


Who's That Girl?

by magicianparrish



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, M/M, so this is the New Girl au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11709777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianparrish/pseuds/magicianparrish
Summary: Blue finds an ad on Craigslist about needing a roommate. She needs an apartment and ends up living with three guys and shenanigans ensue, with her best friend in tow.Or the New Girl au that no one asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this was just a passing thought that I posted on my tumblr (jediannabeth), and then people wanted it so I gave it. Enjoy! (also not Beta'd so all mistakes are mine)

“You found them on  _ Craigslist _ ?” Adam asked skepticism laced heavily in his tone. 

Blue and Adam were sitting on his little couch he had bought at a yard sale for ten dollars, six years ago. In his little one bedroom apartment, there were at least five different portable fans blowing cool air on them at once, as well as the breeze coming through the window. 

He took a sip of the iced tea out of his cup. His blue eyes were staring at her, waiting for a response. 

Blue groaned in response, leaning back against the arm of the couch and sticking her feet on his lap. She tossed an arm over her face. 

“Yes, on Craigslist. When you’re desperate to not sleep on a couch in a one person apartment, you’ll take pretty much anything.” 

Adam just lets out a _mmmm_ as a response, and nothing else. When Blue peeked up from behind her arm, she saw he was on his phone scrolling through something. She had no doubt it was an email of some sort; it was really the only reason he used it, other than calling and texting Blue. 

“So how many people are you potentially living with again?” he inquired, not looking up from his screen. 

“Three.” 

“And they’re all guys?” the skeptic tone came out again in full form.

Adam was nothing if not protective of Blue. And she appreciated it, but she could handle herself thank you very much. 

“I’m meeting them tomorrow. They want to see me.” 

“If that’s not dubious intentions, I don’t know what is. Do you want me to come with?” he offered. 

She flapped her hand in dismissal. Blue knew he was working on a big project for some big wig company he couldn’t afford to skip valuable time on. Especially over something like this. 

“I’ll call you after. If I take the offer, then you can come over any time you’d like.” 

Adam nodded his head. “And where do they live again?” 

“Monmouth Apartments. It’s on the other side of town.” 

Adam scoffed, and Blue kicked him in the shin for his troubles and threw a pillow. 

* * *

Blue had done her research before hand. She might’ve been desperate and dumb enough to look on Craigslist for ads on apartments and potential roommates, but she at least looked up the place before going over.

It was in an okay part of town. Not nearly as shady as where Adam lives, but not a ritzy area like where celebrities live. This is downtown LA, not the Hollywood glam part. Two very distinct areas of the same city. 

The area looked large, at least in the pictures. And there was a nice kitchen and living area. Blue didn’t care for room space; she lived in a house that always had at least ten people running around at any given time. Living with people was not the problem, it was  _ who _ she was living with that could be potential. 

When she had trekked up the stairs to apartment 4D, and knocked on the door, the person to answer it was not who she was expecting at all. 

The door slammed open, and immediately she was hit with a wave of loud electronic music. The kind that was played at rage parties at college frat houses. The man was extremely tall, and the palest skin she’d ever seen on a person. His ice blue eyes were narrowed and his shaved head was intimidating, and that was before she saw the sleeve of tattoos down his arms and the hooks of one curling on his shoulders and neck. He gave a sneer in greeting. 

“What do you want?” he demanded. Even his voice was sharp. 

Everything about this guy screamed:  _ Danger! Do not provoke!  _ That was the rational side of Blue speaking. The irrational side told her to not let this guy push her around. And she had the stupid sense to impress him. She got the impression he wasn’t impressed by much. 

_ “ _ I’m the person who inquired about the new roommate on Craigslist,” she explained. She had to speak loudly over the music. 

And eyebrow cocked up and he crossed his arms over his chest. She watched him look her up and down. But unlike when other guys did it, this didn’t feel sexually predatory. He wasn’t emphasizing on her breasts or legs or ass. 

He let out a sigh through his nose and whipped around towards the interior of the apartment.

“Dick! We have a guest,” he shouted loudly before stomping back inside. 

Blue was unsure if she was invited in, but the door was wide open so she stepped inside after him. 

The first thought that came to mind was: holy shit this place is insane. It was a place that seemed to be taken straight out of a TV show. The living room was just as spacious as it looked in the photo she had seen. Light filtered through the panel windows, and there were books scattered everywhere. In the middle of the floor, was a giant model of Los Angeles, which was so absurdly detailed she couldn’t help be impressed. 

But it was also a men’s paradise. Pizza boxes were stacked in a corner of the dining table, with some Chinese take out piled on top of that. Beer bottles of fancy imported brands lined the window sills like some messed up stained glass window art. The only thing was the kitchen seemed to be immaculate; not a pot was out of place. 

Down the hallway, Blue turned in time to see a giant raven fly out of one of the rooms, low enough to almost hit Blue in the head, and let out a loud  _ KERAH! _ Blue ducked down out of instinct as the bird flew and perched on one of the dining table seats. The bird seemed to take Blue in, her head cocking side to side. Blue did not know how to take that. 

“What the fuck,” she muttered to herself. 

She then heard a pair of footsteps and turned back to the hallway. The pale man had disappeared, and instead, it was a much shorter guy, in a bright magenta polo, chino shorts and the most horrific pair of boat shoes Blue had ever seen. He had the face of the All-American Man, the type that would be featured in Republican campaign ads. 

He looked startled to see Blue standing in his apartment. But the face soon morphed into a decent smile, with perfect white teeth and dimples to match. Blue hated how attractive she found him. 

“Oh, you must be the guest my friend was referring to,” he had an old money accent too. Great. 

The raven let out another loud  _ KERAH! _ The man looked to the bird like it wasn’t a big deal before turning back to Blue. He stuck his hand out to shake. Blue took it warily.  

_ “ _ Don’t fret over Chainsaw over there. She’s totally harmless _.  _ I’m Gansey, one of the people living in this apartment. And you are?” 

_ Who the hell names a raven Chainsaw? Who the hell even owns a raven as a pet? _ She thought to herself. 

_ “ _ Blue Sargent.” 

“Welcome! Would you like anything to drink? Or perhaps anything to eat?” he offered already walking to the kitchen. 

“Water would be fine.” 

“Top shelf!” Blue made a face at that. 

_ Who the hell are these people? _

Gansey filled up a glass with the tap water from the sink and handed it over to Blue. Then he gestured with his arm to follow him towards the couch. They both maneuvered carefully through the model of LA and sat just far enough away from each other not to make it weird. She took a sip of her water. 

She watched as his face pinched together. He ran his thumb over his bottom lip. Then he looked up at her. 

“I must say when I put the ad out for a new roommate, I did not expect to find a woman like yourself the only one to answer the call.” 

Blue felt a surge of anger rip through her body. She slammed the glass of water on the little table and glared at Gansey, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she demanded. 

Gansey cocked his head to the side, looking like a confused puppy. A moment later he seemed to realize the mistake of his words. He opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off by a loud laugh. Blue whipped around, still angry to see it was pale, tattooed man. He walked out of one of the rooms, with a beer in his hand and threw himself on the couch in between Blue and Gansey. 

“Even when you try not to be a misogynistic asshole, you still manage to say misogynistic things. Way to go Dick,” he teased. 

Chainsaw the Raven, then flew off her perch and landed in pale, tattooed guy’s lap. He then proceeded to pet her head softly. Gansey looked extremely troubled. 

“I apologize for my wording. What I merely meant was that I just expected a man to answer. Given as in the ad I did specifically state it was three men living together.” 

Pale, tattooed, man let out another bark of laughter rolling his eyes and taking a sip of beer. “Keep digging that grave.”

Blue decided she liked pale, tattooed guy just a little more. 

“Ronan, please,” Gansey pleaded. Blue took just a little pity on him. He looked like a kicked puppy. And she could see it wasn’t ill-intentioned. He was just a little ignorant. And Ronan seemed to keep him in check. 

“Yeah, Gansey. It’s twenty-seventeen. Just because we might get a woman suitemate doesn’t mean anything. We can peacefully co-exist!” a new voice came. 

From the other side of the room, right next to the kitchen, another guy emerged. He also had pale skin, and he had bleach blonde hair that was stuck underneath a snap back turned backward. He had a Blink-182 t-shirt on and a pair of basketball shorts. When he saw Blue looking at him, he beamed like a puppy and pranced on over and sat next to her. His gray eyes were wide. 

“I’m Noah. Nice to meet you! I do hope these two dopes haven’t scared you off.” 

The way he seemed to be at ease with life, helped Blue just a little bit. Gansey and Ronan both had very strong, differing personalities that demanded to be shown to the world. Noah was more subtle. He leaned forward towards Blue. 

“Your hair is so fluffy, can I feel it?” he asked. 

Blue had to re-think her last thought regarding Noah. But in a weird way, he reminded her of a little puppy. He was completely harmless, so she nodded her consent. A soft hand petted her hair and Noah’s face lit up like a kid on Christmas. He only did it for a few seconds before sitting back on the couch. 

Gansey and Ronan just looked at the interaction with their eyebrows raised. Gansey cleared his throat. 

“So, Blue, what do you do?” he wondered. 

“I work for a non-for-profit regarding environmental issues,” she responded. Gansey nodded like it was the most interesting thing he’s ever heard. 

“Most interesting Blue Sargent. Do you still want to live here with us? I do promise it isn’t quite as bad as this first impression might have been to you. Rent will be not a problem as we split it.” 

Blue heavily considered her options. It was either continuing to live on Adam’s couch in his apartment, or take her chances and live in a nice, lofty apartment, with some quirky guys in a nicer part of town. She’d take the gamble. 

“Yeah, I’ll bite. Where do I sign?” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guys help Blue move all her stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The feedback to this has been so amazing! I've never gotten anything like it in all my fics posted on here. It is so lovely, and I thank all of you. As a token of my gratitude here is another chapter. Enjoy! It is also not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Blue stood in the doorway of what will now become her room. It was completely bare, and no signs that anyone else had ever lived there before her. Behind her stood the three guys, also looking inside. 

“This belonged to Henry. He’s a pretty swell guy, I think you’d get along famously with him actually. But he decided to go find himself,” Gansey explained. 

She heard Ronan scoff. “Find himself alright. The dude seemed to know himself just fine,” he grumbled. 

Then she heard a  _ smack _ , an “ow!” and then a retaliation which left Noah hysterically laughing. 

It was spacious, and it had a walk in closet which Blue thought was a nice touch. It could double as storage for all her fabrics and other materials she makes her clothes with. She turned around and looked at the three of them. 

“Can you come over and help move my shit here? I don’t want to sleep on the couch again when I can actually sleep on a bed for the first time in a month.” 

Noah and Gansey looked thrilled at the opportunity to help her. Ronan just scowled but said nothing. Gansey clapped a hand on Ronan’s shoulder which elicited an eye roll from him. 

“His scowling means yes he will,” Gansey said. 

“You’ll soon learn Ronan language,” Noah added. “He has specific grunts and scowls that mean different things.” 

Ronan shrugged Gansey’s hand off his shoulder and pulled out a pair of car keys from his pocket. 

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” 

As they all walked out the door, Blue took her phone out of her pocket. She quickly dialed Adam’s number as the four of them entered the elevator. It only rang twice before Adam picked up on the other end. 

“How’d it go, Blue?” he immediately asked. 

Blue quickly did a glance over the three of them before answering back. “Fine. I signed the lease just now.” 

“Awesome! I’m glad it worked out. But if anything seems suspicious don’t hesitate-” 

Blue rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know the drill. Not like I didn’t pass kindergarten with that one, dummy.” 

It was silent on the other end for just a moment. “Just making sure. Remember, you did find this place on fucking  _ Craigslist _ .” 

Blue flapped her hand like she so often did to him, even if Adam himself couldn’t actually see it through the phone call. 

“All is good in the hood. Speaking of, I’m stopping by the apartment.” 

“You don’t need to tell me that, Blue. You have a key.” 

She twisted her face. “But I’m bringing the guys over to help move my stuff.” 

Radio silence swept the call again. Blue braced herself for the impact that was to come. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gansey’s face pinched in worry. She noticed then she had taken the phone away from her ear a little bit. 

“Jesus, Blue? Are you serious? I’m not even going to be home, and the place is a mess!” he exclaimed. His southern drawl coming out in full force, elongating all the vowels and cutting off words. 

“I know, I know. I’ll take full blame, I mean it is my shit that is cluttering your tiny apartment anyway. By the time you’re home, it’ll be just like before. I promise.” 

She heard him scoff. “Promises are no guarantees in the Sargent family. Nice try.” 

Blue let out a little laugh. She honestly hadn’t meant it that way at all. But that phrase was a famous one from her own mother at her household, even if it referred to getting your fortune told. 

“I swear, you won’t even notice I had even lived in your apartment. Then you can come visit me after work tomorrow, and actually, meet the people I’m living with.” 

“I’m gonna hold you to that, Blue. I gotta go, work calls.” With that, he hung up on her. 

The call ended just as the elevator doors opened up. All of them walked out into the little parking garage that was right next to the apartment complex. It was then Blue realized she had taken the subway to the apartment and did not have a car of her own. 

“Can one of y’all give me a ride? I don’t have a car,” she politely asked. 

Gansey whipped out his own set of keys. “I’ll be glad to be of service.” 

They all walked up to a trio of cars, that was very expensive looking but were not made to haul many things. She turned to the three of them and gestured to them. 

“These cars are for splurging money. Not transporting things to and fro.” 

She walked up to the hideously orange car, that had a black stripe going down the middle of the hood. It was one of those vintage cars that belonged in some sports magazine. Next to it was a bright red Mustang, and a dark gray car that reminded Blue of a shark. She turned back to the three guys. 

“How the hell are we going to move things?” she asked them. 

They all looked at each other, seeming to be at a lost. Blue didn’t understand how a simple answer could be so evasive. For the hundredth time that day she wondered who the hell these people were exactly. Then Gansey’s face lit up, and Blue could see the metaphorical light bulb above his head. He took his phone out of his pocket. 

“I know someone who can give us a portable pod. I’ll attach it to the Pig.” 

“The  _ Pig _ ?” 

“It’s the nickname of Gansey’s shitty orange Camaro,” Ronan said filling in the gaps. 

Gansey was typing away on his screen, but he turned around to look at Ronan with an offended look on his face. 

“Do not take her name in vain.” 

“That only works with God,” Ronan spat back. 

Gansey looked like he wanted to say something else, but held back. Instead, he looked to Blue with that charming smile of his. 

“I’ll call the guy who can set us up with the transfer pod, while we drive. And you can lead me to your place after we pick it up.”

With that, he pressed a button on his screen and put the phone to his ear and walked away. Blue, Ronan, and Noah all stood around in an awkward silence as they listened in on the half of the conversation Gansey was holding. The phone call didn’t last over a minute, but it still felt like an eternity. 

“Excelsior my friends!” he greeted when he came back. He took out his keys and the lights of the Camaro came to life. Blue and Gansey jumped into the car, while Noah and Ronan went into the gray car. 

As Gansey pulled out of the parking garage, Blue took notice of all the little quirks of the car. For starters, the car sounded like it was wheezing when he put the keys into the ignition. And that the car itself was so old it only accepted cassette tapes and to open windows one had to actually crank a handle to roll them down. 

It was silent, minus the little static of the radio that was playing a classic rock ballad about white winged doves. Blue found herself tapping her foot to the guitar riff. It only took a few minutes to get to the place where Gansey’s connection was. 

He jumped out of the car, and she watched him shake hands cordially with some man. The two shared a laugh at a private joke before the man directed the pod to be attached to the back of the Camaro. When he was finished, she saw Gansey open his wallet and give the man a few dollars for his troubles before jumping back in. 

He let out a sigh of satisfaction. “Now to our next destination. Jane, please show me the way.” 

Blue narrowed her eyes at him. “What did you just call me?” 

Like nothing was amiss, he started the ignition of the car. He turned his head toward her for a moment. “I’ve always like the name Jane.” 

“What does that have to do with why you called me a different name other than my given one?” she demanded. 

He cocked his head to the side before turning on his blinker and looking through his mirrors. “I just thought you looked more like a Jane. Sorry if I offended you.” 

Blue was ready to explode on a rant. She could go on for hours about how names have meanings to people and calling them by random names other than their given one is rude. But, fighting with this guy was exhausting already. And she had known him for a total of two hours tops. So she let it go, for now. 

The GPS app on her phone started the directions to Adam’s place. From behind, they heard a car honk loudly and obnoxiously. Blue whipped around to curse and use obscene gestures, while Gansey just sighed. She noticed it was just Ronan who had a shit eating smirk on his face. 

   The ride took around fifteen minutes, mostly because traffic didn’t seem to be a pain in the ass today. Gansey parked outside the lobby door to the small apartment building. It was squished tightly next to the Holy Church of St. Agnes and practically shared a wall. Blue could always hear the sermons of Mass every morning. She learned more about the Catholic faith in the month she had lived with Adam than she had in her entire life. 

The elevator was still broken, which Blue had forgotten about. She let out a groan at the thought of having to drag her stuff down three flights of stairs. But she had three guys to help her out. 

They all walked up, and Blue dug out her key that Adam had given her and opened the door. 

“Jesus Christ how do live in this apartment? I’m claustrophobic just looking at it,” Ronan commented. 

Blue watched Noah smack Ronan upside the head. “Don’t be a dick,” he chastised. 

Then he turned to Blue with a smile on his face and an apologetic look. “I think it’s lovely. Very homey.” 

Blue rolled her eyes but a small smile was on her own face as she walked in. Many of her things were still packed away with boxes. It was a mix of her not wanting to unload everything and make it seem like she was taking over Adam’s place, and the rest of it being her laziness. 

“No need to flatter me. Trust me, I know it’s a shit hole. Let’s get this over with.” 

It took an hour and a half to transport all her stuff into the pod attached to the Pig. Ronan had made sure to voice his displeasure every step of the way, and she was being quite literal about it. 

He cursed colorfully with every step he took, making exaggerated grunts and groans even though he seemed to have no problem carrying the boxes. It had taken all four of them to carry her mattress down though. And Ronan was in the right to complain about doing that; because Blue sure did. 

Before she left though, she had written a quick note for Adam and left it on the counter in his kitchen. On top of the paper, she left the spare key. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the bottom hem of her t-shirt while walking to the Pig. 

Gansey was directing Ronan to do something, which he begrudgingly did. Since he was the tallest of the guys, he had to reach to pull the cover of the pod over and lock it in place. The last thing Blue wanted was all her stuff tumbling out into the streets of Los Angeles. Blue jumped into the passenger seat. 

He clapped his hands together. Blue had to admire the enthusiasm he seemed to have. He seemed to be genuinely happy to have her moving in, even after the rocky start. The Pig coughed into life and he pulled away from the apartment complex. 

Blue felt a brief pang of sadness. Even though she had only crashed there for a month, it had grown on her. But she reminded herself that her new place was a much better living accommodation than living in her best friend’s single bedroom apartment, in his living room. She’d actually get her own room now. 

As they drove back to Monmouth, she felt a shudder through the Pig. Blue didn’t know much about cars, but she knew that couldn’t be good at all. And with the look of distaste on Gansey’s face, he knew it too. He pressed his hazards and pulled over onto the shoulder of the interstate that ran through LA to get to the other side. 

“Oh dear, not again,” he muttered. 

“Not again? This is a common occurrence?” Blue asked.

He nodded his head solemnly. “Unfortunately, yes. She’s old, and not very reliable these days it seems. But I can’t bear the thought to part ways with her. I’ll call a tow truck.” 

Gansey had started to pull out his phone, but Blue placed her hand over his. They both looked up, eyes wide and she yanked hers back like she had been burned. 

“Don’t bother. My best friend is a mechanic. He can come over and fix your car, free of charge.” 

His face lit up again. “Splendid!” 

A loud knock on the window startled the both of them to look that way. Ronan was looking through, scowling hard and looking irritated. Gansey opened up his door, hitting Ronan intentionally. He let out a grunt but stood back as Gansey got out. Blue followed suit, her phone already dialing Adam’s number.  

“What’s the fucking hold up?” he demanded. 

“The Pig broke down on me. But Blue’s friend here is a mechanic. She’s calling him to do us a service.” 

Ronan ran a hand through his buzzed head. He looked up at the sky, glaring at it like it was the cause of all his problems.  

“He better be here quick. I hate the sun.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! You can find me on my tumblr, jediannabeth. Kudos and comments are appreciated. Thanks, everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan meets the hot new mechanic, Adam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! I'd respond to all the comments I'm getting, but I don't have time. But know that I do read all of them (multiple times in fact) and I get so excited every time I see them. So thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 
> 
> So now you get to read Ronan's reaction to meeting hot mechanic Adam. And I took creative liberties with Gansey's mother's future career as a politician. And Noah's and Ronan's claims to wealth. Also, the Czech phrase says "welcome home!" I'm going to trust Google Translate on that. Enjoy! 
> 
> This isn't beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

Ronan couldn’t understand how Gansey ever saw any appeal to the Pig. Sure it was nice looking, the kind of car that weird people who went around to car shows, popping the hood to show off the insides to hopefully win prizes would get. It had that aesthetic of nostalgia for a “better time”, the kind that would be normally kept in the most pristine condition. That was about all that 1973 orange Camaro had going for it.

In terms of being a practical car, there should be no appeal. For starters, the car is over forty years old, and it has almost ninety-five thousand miles on it. Ronan almost keeled over when he saw it on the dashboard that one time. The seats were made out of vinyl, and it always perpetually smelled bad because of it, especially in the heat of L.A. And the icing on the cake, the car broke down every other day, making Gansey become on a first name basis with every tow truck guy in Downtown L.A.

Ronan was baking out in the sun. The four of them had been pulled over on the shoulder on the highway for over twenty-five minutes. He could feel the sunburn forming on his neck and arms, as well as every other exposed part of his body. He let out a groan of frustration, banging his fists on the hood of his BMW and looking up to glare at Gansey and Blue.

“Where the fuck is your friend, Maggot?” he demanded.

Noah, the other fair skinned guy wasn’t faring that well in the sun either. But he had a hat that he turned around to face the right way to cover his face, as well as a pair of Raybans. He dramatically threw his body against the hood of the BMW, before jumping back up after burning himself on the metal.

“Ronan, can we just go already? I can’t deal with this heat anymore!” Noah complained. At that moment, he sounded just like Matthew did when he didn’t want to do something.

Gansey turned his attention to the two of them. Even in the blazing sun, he managed to make it look like a model for a magazine photo shoot. Ronan snarled at the unfairness of that old money charm of his.

“Please don’t go,” he asked cordially. Then he turned to Blue. “Jane, do you know your friend’s ETA?”

She was looking at the screen of her phone, glaring at it like it was the cause of all her problems. “He’s not responding; probably because he’s driving. But he should be here any second.”

Noah let out a dramatic wail, at the same moment Ronan heard the pulling up of a car. He turned around to face the noise. The car he saw was the ugliest piece of garbage he’d ever seen. It looked like a hodge-podge of different cars hap-hazardously melded together to make a sort of Frankenstein's Monster of a car.

Ronan couldn’t believe someone would drive something worse than the Pig. He turned to face Blue and Gansey, a disbelieving look molding onto his face.

“Your friend, _the mechanic_ ,” he emphasized, “drives that Hondoyta piece of shit?” he asked.

“Haven’t heard that name before,” a deep voice Ronan didn’t recognize said.

He whipped around to face the owner and immediately felt like he’d been struck by lightning.

The guy had to be Ronan’s age. He was tall, perhaps just an inch or two shorter than Ronan himself. He had tan skin, the kind that was weathered by the sun over a lot of exposure. Freckles covered his arms, and from what he could see he had muscles that could be achieved only by manual labor or working out regularly. Freckles also covered his face generously, and he had wide set, deep blue eyes and a crooked nose and thin lips, to which Ronan was immediately attracted to. He had dusty blond hair that was on the shaggier side like it hadn’t been cut in a while.

He was in a threadbare red Coca-Cola t-shirt that fit his body in all the right places. He was also wearing a pair of cargo shorts and well worn Nike sneakers. Over his shoulder was a white rag, and he was clutching a tool box in his right hand.

Blue’s friend was the most attractive man Ronan had ever seen in his life. And he didn’t know how to handle that. He was looking right at Ronan with an unamused look on his face.

He opened his mouth and continued, “and yes, I am the mechanic Blue called in the middle of _a work day_ to save your sorry asses. I’m Adam.”

He even had a southern twang. Ronan was a dead man.

Ronan snarled and bared his teeth at the hot mechanic. Adam walked over and gave a small hug to Blue, which engulfed her. He shook hands with Gansey and Noah, nodding his head.

Ronan opened the door to the BMW, threw himself in and slammed it behind him so hard, the car shook. He started the engine and pulled off the shoulder. He rolled the window of the passenger side down and saw the four of them were looking at Ronan in confused and judgemental stares.

“I’ll see you at the apartment,” he growled out before peeling away on the highway.

 

* * *

Ronan spent the time alone at the apartment, trying to get Adam the mechanic’s face out of his head. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop remembering how hot he had looked out in the sun on the side of the highway.

He didn’t know he had the hots for mechanics until that day. Ronan was apprehensive towards getting a new roommate. He didn’t play well with new people, especially if Gansey liked the person. When Henry had moved in, even if it was just for a brief time, it had taken almost the entire tenure for Ronan to finally be cordial enough to him.

Now there was this woman, who looked like a blind person dressed her and cut her hair. She was tiny, but her personality made her seem like she was seven feet tall instead of just under five. And Noah and Gansey seemed to like her from the very moment they saw her. The only upshot Ronan could see is that her best friend is hot mechanic Adam, who he hoped would drop by often enough so he could ogle at him from afar.  

It’s no secret that Ronan is gay. But at the same time, it is not something he publically advertised to every guy he meets. It is something about himself that he keeps protected, but won’t deny it shall anyone ask about it. Gansey had known since high school; Noah found out when he had visited the two of them at Princeton, went to a crush party of Noah’s fraternity, got almost black out drunk and made out with Noah.

So he lay on his bed, blasting electronica and metal Irish music through his headphones, trying to get his body to calm the fuck down about Adam and his stupid attractive body. And it was because of that, he didn’t hear any of them come in with all of Blue’s shit until after the matter.

Noah kicked open the door to the room, making a loud enough noise to spook Chainsaw into flying out and for Ronan to sit up on his bed and yank the headphones off. He looked sweaty, his blond exposed by the hat he had taken off. He looked annoyed, a face that on Noah even looked innocent. He was breathing heavy.

“Thanks for the help, asshole. We called your name like a million times,” he breathed out.

Ronan turned off his music and rolled his eyes before standing up. He pushed past Noah and into the foyer of the apartment. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. Chainsaw then to her perch on his shoulder, while he took a swig.

“The maggot can handle herself. She’s got that self-righteous attitude about her. Wouldn’t want help from _men_ ,” he spat.

Blue herself came walking in through the door. Her spiky hair was matted with sweat on her head. She glared at Ronan as she picked up another box, that had _Crafting Shit_ written on the side in black sharpie.

“Say what you want, Edgar Allan Poe, but it would still be nice to have another set of hands,” she hissed back.

“Whatever,” he said back.

He jumped over the couch and settled in looking at all the commotion. He took another sip and choked when he saw Adam walk through the door. And he had somehow changed into a white tank top. Ronan felt flushed all over suddenly by the sight of it. Before where his biceps had been partially hidden by sleeves, were now totally exposed for him to see.

Adam moved the mattress that belonged to Blue and then pushed it down the hallway and maneuvered it into the room. Ronan moved Chainsaw from her perch on his shoulder and into his lap to hide the boner that was forming. For her credit, she only let out a single _Kerah!_ Before nuzzling back into her spot.  

Slowly the boxes disappeared from the living room and made their way into Blue’s. After that was done, Adam emerged from the hallway and crashed himself right next to Ronan on the couch. He spread his arms along the back, and his long legs were spread out below him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Gansey, Blue, and Noah soon joined and took their own seats. Ronan tried to hide the heat that he could feel spreading on his neck and face. He would blame it on the heat. Even with an AC, it was still hot as hell in the apartment.

“It’s official. Blue, you are now roommates with all of us!” Noah exclaimed throwing his hands in the air. “ _Vítej doma!_ ”

“What language is that in?” Blue asked, before tacking on a “thank you.”

“Czech,” Gansey supplied. Blue perked up at that information.

“Oh, are you fluent?”

Noah, excited someone was willing to hear him speak about his home nodded excitedly. He sat forward.

“Yeah! It’s actually my native language. My family is from the Czech Republic. I’m also fluent in English, obviously, Russian, French, and Spanish.”

“I’ve always wanted to go to Eastern Europe. But time is money, and I don’t have any money. Hence why I am now sharing an apartment with three guys.”

“Poland is a wonderful country. The terrain is truly magnificent,” Gansey commented. Blue turned her attention to him.

“You’ve been to Poland?”

He just nodded his head. “I’ve been to Europe many times. My family likes to vacation there frequently. But my mother goes abroad more often for work.”

Adam had opened his eyes at some point and was looking at Gansey with narrowed eyes. He and Blue had the same looks of suspicion and skepticism on their faces.

“And what does your mother do, exactly?” Adam wondered.

Gansey looked horribly embarrassed to admit it. Ronan barked a laugh and stroked Chainsaw’s feathers with his fingers. Noah snickered behind his hand.

“Oh you know,” he tried to say nonchalantly and failing, “she’s the Secretary of State.”

Both Adam and Blue’s eyebrows shot up their foreheads and their eyes widened and jaws slackened. Adam turned towards Blue and accusatory look on his face.

“His mother is Laura Gansey, the _Secretary of State of the United States_. Did you know that her son is your roommate?” he asked Blue, a disbelieving tone in his voice.  

Blue looked affronted at the accusation. “What? Why the fuck would I know that? I literally met him five hours ago. Not the first connection I’d make!” she shot back.

Adam turned to Noah. His face was still pinched in surprise. He looked between Noah and Ronan. “Are you two famous somehow too? Or is it just him?”

Ronan shrugged and took the final sip of his beer. “My father was a world renowned antiquities dealer.”

“My family is from a line of European royalty,” Noah said.

Adam turned to Blue. “I can’t believe you found these guys on Craigslist,” he said to her.

Gansey cleared his throat. He looked awkward and uncomfortable about the revelations that had just come about. Ronan could see that he was going to change the subject smoothly as possible.

“So Blue, you never told us why you were looking for a new apartment to live in,” he said.

The diversion seemed to work. Blue laid back against the couch again. Adam still looked shocked.

“I got into a heated debate with my landlord, about whether or not global warming is a hoax, and then I beat him up for being a jerk off.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Don’t forget to mention you had a fling with him.”

Blue glared. “Shut the fuck up, Adam.”

He let out a laugh, and that shook Ronan’s world. It sounded like he was surprised to be laughing, and his body shook from it. Adam caught Ronan looking, and they made eye contact before Ronan sharply turned away scowling.

He was so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Comments and kudos are appreciated by yours truly. Thanks, everyone!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan and Blue get into an argument with a man in the parking lot. Then they argue about calling the landlord to fix things in their apartment. 
> 
> This is part 1 of the Landlord Arc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is part 1 of the Landlord arc I have. I don't know how many parts this will be, but I'm going to ballpark guess and say 3. I'm going to try and make every arc 3 chapters at most. And they will be based off episodes of the show with some twists to fit the characters, but you don't have to watch the show to understand what's happening. 
> 
> Also, thank you for the response. It warms my heart so much. For some comments, you can see that I don't know jack about cars at all, so take these with creative liberties. And I also don't know if it has been confirmed that the Czerny's are new rich. If anyone does know, tell me!
> 
> And I don't know anything about engineering, even though I have friends who are going to be one. So also take this with creative liberty as I have. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it! This is also not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Blue and Ronan had been combing the parking lot for what seemed to be hours trying to find a spot. Gansey had sent them out to go grocery shopping, and claiming that he had professor duties to attend to and couldn’t join in the fun. Noah was out of the apartment doing whatever he did in his free time, leaving Blue and Ronan alone. 

Ronan had grumbled the entire way there, and the entire time they were at the little grocery store. They argued over petty shit, like whether or not getting ten boxes of Oreos was necessary, and for Blue to keep Ronan from throwing his money without a care in the world. 

Her three roommates might be rich, but she wasn’t about to let that get in the way. They all chose to decide to live in squalor with the poor people like herself and Adam, so she would make it that way. She would teach them the ways of the working class. 

It also ended with Ronan throwing all the bags in the trunk of his BMW, which also had some questionable things inside Blue decided not to comment on. And it also ended with her screaming at him: “You dumbass, don’t just shove shit in. The eggs will break!” And then playing a giant game of Tetris to fit everything accordingly. 

Blue had the feeling that Gansey put the two of them together on purpose. Out of all of her roommates, she and Ronan collided personalities the most; well she was right behind Adam. He didn’t even live in the apartment and he argued with them nearly every time he came over. She figured this was Gansey’s way of trying to get them to get along better. She’s only been living with them for five months, give her time! 

“This fucking parking lot never has any fucking free spaces in it!” Ronan growled. For good measure, he hit his steering wheel a few times. 

Blue rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness. She was starting to get annoyed too, but she wouldn’t go as far as hitting things. But Ronan always showed his emotions through action, and his emotional scale went between anger and indifference. At least, as far as she could tell. 

“Chill the fuck out, Lynch. Didn’t your mama ever teach you patience?” Blue sniped. 

He whipped his head and glared at her. His teeth were snarled like an angered animal. Blue huffed and turned her head towards her window to look for open spots. The two of them weaved for a few more minutes before Blue spotted one. 

“Ronan! There!” she exclaimed pointing a finger in the direction. 

Ronan spotted it and sped up to get a claim on it. Suddenly from the other side, another car came in speeding halfway into turning just as Ronan did. He slammed his breaks and laid it hard on the horn. 

The guy in the other car looked like he was cut from the same cloth as Ronan. He was rough looking with tattoos. Ronan rolled the window down and stuck his head out and gave the middle finger. 

“Hey, asshole! Get the fuck out!” he shouted. 

Blue felt anger at the guy cutting them off and rolled her own window down so she could yell too. 

“Learn the rules of the road shitface! We were here first!” 

The guy was shouting at them too, his arms being thrown in anger as he called his dibs on his parking spot. 

“There’s no staking claim on spots. We got here first, we get the spot!” Ronan growled. He honked the horn again. “I ain’t afraid of you.” he taunted. 

The guy glared at them, to which both Blue and Ronan were doing it right back with no problem. She was simmering in anger. Then he pulled a gun out of his jacket. Blue’s eyes widened. 

“Shit, fuck, he has a gun,” Ronan said. The two of them ducked down behind the windshield afraid he’d shoot them. 

“This is your fault! You taunted him!” Blue yelled. 

The two of them peaked above and saw the guy was still threatening them with the gun. Ronan glared at Blue. 

“You joined in Maggot. Don’t put this all on me,” he retorted. 

Blue let out a groan and hit her head on the dashboard a few times. She sat up straight and back in her seat. She started to wave at the guy and making gestures trying to apologize, and calling Ronan crazy behind her hand like he couldn’t see. 

“Sargent! What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. 

Blue stopped the charade for a moment. “Trying to get this guy off our asses!” She continued on. 

She could see the guy was looking at her like she was crazy and then eventually he put the gun back and then backed up in the universal hand gesture of “sorry.” Blue dropped the game as soon as he pulled away and smugly looked at Ronan who had a look of complete disbelief on his face. It was a new look on him. 

“You out crazied a guy with a fucking gun,” he said. 

Blue shrugged basking in the apparent approval that Ronan was giving her as he pulled into the parking spot. 

“It takes one to know one.”

* * *

Blue and Ronan walked in to see Gansey and Noah eating breakfast and talking about something. Noah was in his business attire, getting ready for work. He was also showing his phone to Gansey who looked amused at Noah’s antics.

Ronan and Blue had argued the entire way up to the apartment after the parking debacle. She dumped the groceries on the counter and turned to her other roommates who were looking at them. Gansey popped a blackberry into his mouth. 

“Isn’t Ronan the most negative person you know?” Blue demanded. 

Chainsaw had flown in from wherever she had been and landed in Ronan’s arms. He was stroking her black feathers and scowling. Noah shrugged looking up from his phone. 

“I’d say so. He’s always scowling like that,” and he pointed to Ronan’s face. Ronan scowled more. 

Gansey looked more ponderous. Blue had learned that the two of them are childhood best friends from the D.C. area. He knew Ronan inside and out, and better than any of them. He was touching his bottom lip and ate another berry. 

“Well, his life does seem sad at the moment,” he stated. 

“Thanks, alot dick head.” 

Blue turned and opened her arms out like, see, I told you so. Ronan rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything. She walked over and picked up a piece of garbage that was left on the counter and dumped into the disposal. She turned it on, and it let out a horrendous noise that didn’t sound right. 

“Ah! What the fuck?” she screamed as she scrambled away. 

All the boys let out a groan. Ronan let Chainsaw down, and opened up a cabinet door and grabbed a pole. Noah and Gansey let out another groan as Ronan walked over. 

“Chill the fuck out,” he said as he jammed the stick in and roughly jerked it back and forth a couple of times before it sounded okay and turned it off. 

Blue looked at him with utter disbelief and just a little bit of admiration. He threw the stick thing inside the cabinet again. 

“It’s fixed.” 

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m going to call the landlord. This is ridiculous.” 

She saw Gansey and Noah’s heads snap up and they shook them in unison. She didn’t understand what the problem was. 

“We don’t need the fucking landlord. If anything call Parrish, the handy-dandy man,” Ronan grumbled. 

Blue let out a pshaw and crossed her arms. Living with these guys is always a learning curve that never let up. 

“He’s an engineer, not some kind of handyman. He builds and designs things, not fixes them.” 

“An engineer? I thought he was a mechanic?” Gansey commented. 

Learning curve, she thought to herself before deciding to answer. Adam would probably hate her defending his honor on his behalf, but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt his pride. 

“It this thing called the job market. I know you three are rich as fuck, which by the way, still don’t know why you would choose to live like this, but money buys jobs and positions and networks. He’s a civil engineer, but he works as a mechanic as a side job.” 

Noah and Gansey had the sense to feel shame at her scolding. Ronan was still scowling, but she could tell he was ashamed too. Blue felt proud of herself. 

“I’m calling the landlord guys,” she decided. 

“No, don’t do it. The guy’s an asshole,” Ronan argued. 

Blue looked up at him. “Like you aren’t? So what if he’s an asshole, I live with one.” 

Noah let out a loud guffaw of laughter that he did while spit-taking his water across the table, which Gansey let out a surprised yelp at. Ronan glared at Noah who was still laughing. 

“What a burn!” Noah exclaimed, but then he turned to Blue. “But seriously, don’t call him. You think Ronan’s bad? He’s a hundred times worse.” 

“I highly doubt that.” 

“He’s right, Jane,” Gansey added. Blue glared at him for saying that stupid nickname of his. 

“You guys are unbelievable. Rich as fuck but won’t even fix the shit that needs it in the apartment.” 

“Just don’t call the asshole, Sargent,” Ronan said ending the conversation. 

Noah took another sip of water, then he typed on his screen and beckoned Blue next to him. 

“Read this text from my boss. Do you think there are any innuendos?” he asked. 

“It’s in your head, Noah!” Gansey exclaimed. 

This must’ve been the thing him and Noah had been talking about when she walked in. Blue read the message and told him he was imagining whatever he thought was sexual. He pouted about being ganged up with Gansey. 

“Well, Ronan got into an argument with a guy in the parking lot over a spot,” Blue told them. 

Gansey didn’t look all that surprised. He nodded his head like he had expected something to happen along those lines. 

“And now for something completely different,” Noah muttered with sarcasm, then made himself laugh at whatever reference he made. Gansey smiled and the two of them high fived. 

Ronan threw himself onto a stool and took a vicious bite from a banana that was covered in peanut butter. Noah wiggled his eyebrows at Ronan. 

“Ouch, Ronan. Is that how you do it?” he asked. 

Ronan flushed red at the innuendo and pointed at the large glass jar that was filled with dollar bills. 

“Dick Jar, Czerny. Right now,” he demanded. 

Noah fished out a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and laughed the entire walk across the apartment to put the money in the jar. He twisted around with a Cheshire grin on his face. 

“Worth it!” he said before skipping back to his stool. 

“Blue joined in the fight too. She’s trying to throw me under the bus. She was yelling just s many expletives as I was.” 

Blue conceded in the fact that she did join in. She wasn’t sorry though and shrugged her shoulders. “He was an asshole. But I got us the spot.” 

“How’d you manage that?” Gansey wondered. 

“A mix of charades and my woman charms. He also pulled a gun on us.” 

Shock showed on both of their faces. Gansey’s hazel eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Noah looked the same. Their faces made both Ronan and Blue start laughing. Only they stopped a moment later when they realized they did it at the same time and glared. 

“Jesus, people are crazy,” Gansey muttered. 

Noah looked at his watch, and he shot up out of his seat. He dumped his glass in the sink and ran to get his suit jacket. 

“I’m about to become one of those crazy people. Gotta go! Can’t be late again! Peace out!” he said before running out the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Comments and kudos are much appreciated. Thank you everyone!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the Landlord Arc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much for the positive reactions to this story! It gives me so much inspiration to write for it. Here's part 2 of the landlord arc! I hope you like who I chose to be the landlord. I thought it would be comical and he fit pretty well. Shenanigans ensue as usual. 
> 
> The Czech words used are: hello, and goodbye. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! This wasn't beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Blue spent a week trying to figure out how to talk to the landlord about the various problems the apartment seemed to have. At first, she just thought it was the occasional oh-something-got-clogged-in-the-sink type of problem. Little things that could be handled with a quick search on google or youtube on how to fix without burning the place to the ground. Gansey had told her that was how Ronan learned to take care of Chainsaw when he adopted her as a baby bird. 

But now that she had seen the spectacle of Ronan jamming a stick into the garbage dispenser, jerking around with it like he was wrestling an animal, every little thing that was wrong blared right into her face. Like the fact that for some reason her closet door won’t close all the way. Or there was one light in the bathroom that always flickered when it turned on, driving Blue insane. 

So she just decided to muster up some charm and went down to the basement of the apartment complex, where the landlord resided. The basement was freaky looking, and she knocked on the wooden door that was opened ajar. The lights were dimmed and showed exposed light bulbs. It smelled musty and damp, causing Blue to wrinkle her nose in distaste. 

“This is literally the part in the horror film where I get murdered. Great,” she muttered to herself as she kept moving forward in the lion’s den. 

As she walked further in, she saw a desk with a lamp glowing over maps of something, and papers thrown all about in a chaotic fashion. A single bed was in the corner against the wall, the sheets dirty looking, and unkempt. She tried to forget the feeling of unease that was building up inside her. 

“Hello? Anyone home?” she called out and turned a corner. 

On a wooden chair, right over a light that was suspended from the ceiling, with a book open was a man. The shadows of the dark room morphed his features to look comical. He had slicked black hair that was shaggy, and from what Blue could tell, oily. He was muttering to himself, writing inside the book. Blue walked up to him and cleared her throat. 

“I heard you the first time. What do you want?” the man glared up from the book he was reading. 

Blue was put off immediately by his attitude. The boys were right when they said he was an asshole. She crossed her arms over her chest glaring back at him. She wasn’t about to take his shit. 

“My name’s Blue Sargent. I live in apartment 4D, and I noticed there could be potential safety hazards in the loft. Nothing you can’t fix.” 

He closed the book he had been reading and stood up. He looked down at her, but she wasn’t intimidated by his height. She lived Ronan Lynch, the snake himself, who was clearly a few inches over six feet, and her best friend was Adam Parrish, who wasn’t too far behind Ronan in height. He stomped over to his desk and opened up another book, this one seemed to be for record keeping. 

“What do you say?” 

“Call a professional to do it,” he gruffly suggested. 

Blue let out a huff of indignation, annoyed with this guy. She looked behind him to see a poorly drawn picture of two figures with angry faces. It looked like a child’s drawing. Behind the piece of paper was a map with highlighted routes all over. 

“What’s the drawing of?” Blue wondered. 

“Me and the backstabbing friend, not that it’s any of your business, Ms. Sargent.” 

This guy had some serious social issues that he has to work through, she thought to herself. 

It had to be one of the most awkward conversations she’s ever had with a person. And she was getting nowhere. Blue wouldn’t allow her roommates the pleasure of saying I told you so to her. Not today. 

She walked over to the desk and put both her hands on it leaning forward. The landlord just snuck a look up at her. 

“Listen up. My roommates were too scared to confront you about this shit, but I’m asking you to do your job. I know you don’t want the four of us living in a shitty apartment when the health department comes to inspect your ass-” she ranted. 

He looked up at her suddenly, having his undivided attention. His brown eyes were unnerving to look at. She found herself leaning back cautiously. 

“Four of you?” he roughly questioned. 

Blue found the question odd, and she was still riled up in anger. She nodded her head. 

“Uh, yeah.” 

“There’s only supposed to be three people in 4D, Ms. Sargent,” he coolly responded. 

A grin broke on his face, and it reminded her of the Grinch when he was stealing all the Christmas decorations in the middle of the night. Her anger evaporated and she started to think of a way to cover. 

“Oh, it seems I accidentally counted Gansey twice. That guy seems to have so many different versions of himself, I can’t even keep track.” she scrambled. Blue gestured to hit her head like she was an idiot laughing to herself once. 

He stood up like he didn’t believe a word she said and started to walk out. Blue scampered past him and up the stairs to the loft. She burst into the door, heaving for air. Ronan lifted his body up from the couch looking at her with confusion. Gansey was on the floor, gluing something to a building in his model Los Angeles, and Noah was covering the buildings in glitter. 

“What the fuck did you do, Maggot?” Ronan demanded. 

Knocking was heard on the door. “Open up, you weasels!” the landlord’s voice said, followed by more knocking. 

All three pairs of eyes widened. Ronan practically hurdled over the couch. Gansey and Noah abandoned whatever art project they had done. Ronan pointed a finger at Blue. 

“Goddamn, it Sargent! You went to fucking Whelk! Jesus Mary and fucking Joseph,” he exclaimed. 

“Oh my God, it’s happening,” Noah said. Then they all burst into action. 

Noah went into Gansey’s room, followed by Ronan and Gansey. A moment later, they call came hauling out a mattress. 

“Blue go open the porch doors!” Noah said, then he tacked on toward the door, “be right there!” 

“We’ve trained for this,” Ronan muttered, as they practically threw the mattress out the doors Blue had opened. 

“What the fuck is happening right now?” she asked, but no one was listening to her. 

Gansey ran into his room and had an armful of clothes in them. He threw them outside too, scattering. 

“I’m freaking out! I told you we should’ve practiced this more!” Noah said, pushing a rolling chair into his room. 

Gansey came with another handful, throwing them. “There go my chinos,” he muttered to himself. “Jane, please close the doors.” 

Blue not understanding what had just happened in the past minute did as she was told. Noah had run off somewhere, leaving Gansey and Ronan and her to open the door. Gansey tacked on his best Presidential smile as he opened the door. 

Whelk stood outside, with a suspicious eyebrow raised, and that Grinch smile still plastered on his face. He looked at all three of them before he walked inside the loft. 

“Gansey, Lynch,” he greeted, before tacking on, “Ms. Sargent.” 

Gansey closed the door behind Whelk. And at that moment, Noah came prancing through from his room, with a suitcase and what looked to be boarding passes for LAX. Noah smiled and waved at Whelk. 

“Oh, Ahoj!” he greeted. Blue only knew that meant hello because Noah had been teaching her Czech. He started to say other things in his native language, making gestures of respect and salutes in goodbye. Whelk’s smile fell, and he was glaring at Noah, obviously not understanding what he was saying. 

“Oh this is Jan, I met him in Prague during college. He was just for a visit, but alas must go to LAX before he misses his flight back home,” Ronan jumped in. 

Blue had to hide her astoundment. Ronan was many things, but the thing that had always baffled her the most about his personality is his moral code to never lie. And here he was, telling a fib just to get Whelk off their hands. She’d call him out on that later. 

Noah nodded his head vigorously and patted Ronan on the shoulder. All of them were acting so ridiculous. 

“Yes, Ronan is very good friend,” he said in broken English, in a heavy accent. “Na shledanou!”

He kissed Ronan on the cheek twice, making him blush red, and then hugged Gansey and Blue before leaving out the door and closing it behind. They all turned back to Whelk, who was looking at them like they were crazy. 

“You idiots don’t think I know that was Czerny that left? Jesus Christ,” he sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“Someone told me there was four of you living here.” 

“Nah, Czerny doesn’t live here anymore. His green card expired so he went back to Prague. Blue here, moved in his spot,” Gansey said wrapping his arm around her shoulders. 

Blue shrugged it off, glaring at Gansey. They weren’t that close yet. Whelk turned to her, an expectant look on his face. 

“This true?” 

“True as the sky is blue, and is my name,” she responded. Adam would be proud at her faux confidence. 

He glared at all of them suspiciously, before scowling and moving to inspect all the rooms. He walked towards where Gansey’s room was, which Gansey ran in front of. 

“Oh, you don’t want to look at the library right now, it’s such a mess,” Gansey said. 

Blue followed the guys and peaked in where Gansey’s room was. There was no mattress, and the area was cleared out, except for papers with various red markings and gradings, and books scattered all across the floor. The rollie chair Blue had seen was laying on its side like it's been pushed down. Blue sighed and crossed her arms at her idiot roommates. Whelk grunted and walked out.   

Whelk walked into another room, which belonged to Noah. Noah was hidden behind a chair, and when he was spotted, meekly came out. 

“Ah, plane delayed. Decided to stay for while before leaving,” Noah explained in his fake broken English. 

As Whelk continued on, Blue saw Ronan punch Noah in the arm. Noah looked ready to argue, and they were in a whispering war. 

“Why’d you do that for, asshole?” he whispered. 

“We practiced this idiot! You stay out of the apartment!” Ronan stage whispered back. 

“What the fuck is this?” Whelk demanded. He looked vaguely horrified at what he was looking at. 

The three of them peered into the neon, glow-in-the-dark, and glittery little room. Blue had to close her eyes. Noah looked ready to defend himself. 

“This is Noah’s room. He painted this,” Ronan accused. 

“God, sometimes I need to let off steam! This is where I go!” Noah defended. 

Gansey looked a little scandalized at the paintings inside as well. Blue just didn’t want to know. Whelk pointed a finger at Noah, a scowl on his face. 

“You better paint over this. Or pay for it,” he growled before leaving the room. 

They all converged back in the living room. Whelk looked angry at the ordeal like he wanted to find more than he did. His arms were crossed and he glared at all of them. 

“Paint over that disgusting whatever it is in your room Czerny. You, three idiots, pay more for the next few months, and don’t bother me again,” he grumbled before walking out the door. 

Blue felt still wanted these things fixed in the apartment. She took a step forward. 

“Hey, Whelk,” she called out. 

He stopped and turned around, huffing and rolling his eyes. She gave a sarcastic smile, that was completely saccharine. 

“I’m sorry we lied to you about how many people lived here.” 

“I don’t really give a shit,” he responded in a monotone. 

“Sargent, stop fucking reminding him,” Ronan growled from behind her. She shot a glare before turning back. 

“But, while you’re up here, can you please fix some things? I’ll even make these guys tip you for your troubles.” 

“Blue!” Noah complained. She turned to him, and he looked indignant with his arms wide open. She glared at them to say,  _ just go with it!  _ Ronan and Noah huffed, while Gansey smiled that President smile and nodded along. 

Whelk rolled his eyes. “Fine. What needs to be fixed.” 

“Close your eyes and point at something, asshole,” Ronan retorted. 

Whelk glared at Ronan with a fire of hatred. “I want  _ her _ , not you.” 

Blue turned around with a smirk on her face, with Ronan glaring back. He scowled and stormed away, and that was how she knew she had won that battle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed it! Comments and kudos are appreciated. Thanks so much!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue invites Whelk to dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have seen this episode, you probably know what happens next. For those who haven't, my disclaimer is that the characters in this story are all relatively the same age. The Gangsey is in their late 20s, Whelk is probably early 30s at most. So that's just a clarification for this chapter. 
> 
> Nothing explicit happens, and I tried to make the characters stay as close to their characters as possible. Ronan might be doing things he probably wouldn't do normally, but he can be a stubborn ass, which is what gets him into this situation. 
> 
> Thanks again for all the positive reactions! This was a lot of fun to write! Enjoy! Also was not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

“I don’t know what sorceress charms you used on that greasy bastard, but he likes you,” Ronan commented. 

He was sitting on the couch, playing some video game that included a ton of shooting things, and blood splattering on the screen of the flat screen TV. Blue was sitting next to him, watching him play, oddly fascinated by it. 

Blue turned her attention from the TV to Ronan. She felt her face morph into one of pure disgust. She casually leaned back against the couch, turning so she could face Ronan, who was still staring at the screen, manically pressing buttons on the controller. 

“Ew, the fuck? That is absurd,” Blue countered. 

“Fuck! Fuck you!” Ronan shouted at the screen when his character died. He threw the controller in anger, before picking it back up and starting all over again. 

“I saw the way he was eyeing you, Maggot. He wants to fuck, that is just the truth,” he continued like he didn’t just throw a temper tantrum over a video game character. 

Blue crossed her arms, huffing indignantly. “Pshaw,” she scoffed, “I think I would notice if a guy wanted to fuck with me. This isn’t my first rodeo.” 

Ronan looked away from the screen and gave her a mildly disgusted look. He grunted and continued to play. Blue translated that as the conversation was now over. She didn’t think she’d ever understand Ronan. 

Suddenly, she felt a presence next to her. Blue jumped out of her skin, to see that Noah had joined the party. He was still in his work clothes, so she figured he had just got home from the office. He had a big grin on his face, and he jumped over the back and slid down next to Blue and started to pet her hair. 

“Ronan’s right. Whelk totally has the hots for you, Blue.” He made a face like he was sucking a lemon. “Even though that is so gross to think about. You can do so much better.” 

Blue threw her hands up in the air. “I can’t believe it. You too, Noah? Is there like, some sort of secret bro code that I’m not aware of or something?” she exclaimed. 

Noah leaned his head against her shoulder, like a puppy would do and let out a giggle. His gray eyes were looking up at her. 

“Oh, Blue, my nymph whom I adore. Of course there’s a bro code. He was totally eying you when he was fixing the door in your room. Telling you how to do it, and then giving you to the tools to do it yourself while he watched you work. Probably popped a boner, watching you stretch like that.That move is ripped straight off the page.” 

Blue pushed Noah off her, and shoved him into Ronan, making his character die again and causing more expletives to escape his mouth. Blue reached over and hauled the giant glass jar, that read “Dick Jar” in sharpie on a post-it. She held it out to Noah. 

“Put money in there, that was so gross,” Blue chastised. 

Noah pursed his lips and dropped a ten in there while shrugging his shoulders. “I’m just saying the truth,” he muttered.

It was at that moment, Gansey came walking through the door. He was wearing a bright magenta polo and chino shorts. His messenger bag was loose over his shoulder, and in his hand was a stapled stack of paper that must’ve been some sort of research paper he was reading and grading. 

“Gansey! Come here, I have something to ask,” Noah called over. 

Gansey dropped his bag at the front door, and took off his Sperrys, before coming over and joining them on the couch. He put the paper on the little table in front of the couch and leaned back relaxing. 

“And what are you inquiring about, Noah?” Gansey asked a smile on his face. 

Ronan had a shit-eating grin on his face, now abandoning the video game to watch the scene unfold. Blue was glaring at Noah, who didn’t seem to care as he had also a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Do you think Whelk wants to fuck Blue?” 

Gansey blanched at the bluntly worded question. His mouth hung open, and his hazel eyes widened. It took him a moment to compose himself to respond. Blue found the reaction cute, and was glad he was scandalized by the topic of conversation. He took a mint leaf out of a tin in his pocket, popped it into his mouth and cleared his throat. 

“Jesus, could you be any more risqué in your questions?” he started. 

“Just answer it,” Ronan pushed.

He hesitated for a moment, rubbing his thumb over his lower lip. A tick Blue picked up on when he was thinking about something. He shrugged his shoulders. 

“I mean, he was looking at you pretty sexually when you were fixing your door. So probably, yeah,” he concluded. Gansey’s face was flushed. 

Blue stood up and threw her hands in the air again. She let out a loud groan and then glared at the three of them. Noah and Ronan were sharing a good laugh together, while Gansey just looked confused at the reactions. 

“God damn it. I fucking hate you all. He doesn’t want to have sex with me!” she yelled. 

“So what if he does, Sargent. Doesn’t mean you have to engage with him,” Ronan said after he recovered from laughing with Noah. 

“I know that! But just because a guy helped me fix something, doesn’t automatically mean he has sexual feelings for me either,” she retorted. 

“I highly doubt that.” 

“Ronan, what do you know about heterosexual relationships?” Noah countered with a smile on his face. 

Ronan let out a growl but didn’t answer the question. “A blind person could see that he was obviously lusting.” 

“Oh yeah, well I’m going to invite him up for dinner. As a token of gratitude for helping us. Nothing sexual about that,” Blue taunted. “Do any of you want to join me?” 

All of them made faces of various discomfort at the idea of having dinner with Whelk. 

“I uh, have a department meeting tonight actually, so I would love to, but can’t,” Gansey claimed. 

“Going out skateboarding with some friends from work, so me either,” Noah said. 

Blue just nodded along, and made a mmhmm noise. She looked expectantly at Ronan who was scowling more than usual. 

“Ronan, do you have any plans tonight? Or are you too scared to see that you’re wrong?” 

He looked up at her, his ice blue eyes staring at her with a silent fury. She knew that he wouldn’t back down now that she’d trapped him in a corner. 

“I’ll join you Sargent. Even I’m not cruel enough to leave someone alone with that scumbag.” 

“Good.” 

There was silence for a few moments after. Noah then gasped and turned to Gansey, his excitement anew. 

“Gansey, guess what my boss told me today?” It was a rhetorical question because he continued on. “She called me into her office, to clean out her hard drive.” 

“So what?” Ronan said. 

“Well I thought it literal as well, but then she said it again, and emphasized it. This was a sexual innuendo! I swear it!” he exclaimed. 

* * *

Blue honestly didn’t want to have dinner with Whelk and Ronan. But she was doing it to prove a point, and also to win another argument.

Whelk came at seven, and Blue was surprised to see that he actually looked cleaned up. His hair wasn’t oily, and he was clean shaven and in decent clothes. He even had a bottle of whisky in his hand, which Blue found peculiar but didn’t mention it. 

She had cooked spaghetti and meatballs, the most simple dish she could muster up in a short notice. Both Whelk and Ronan were sitting at the table, in silence. Ronan was glaring daggers at Whelk, while the landlord wasn’t making eye contact at all. 

Blue walked over and put the bowl of spaghetti in the center, and laid out the dishes and silverware for each of them, before sitting down and getting comfortable. She took the first scoop and put it on her plate. The two men followed in suit, Ronan never letting his eyes off of Whelk. 

“Whelk brought some whisky to dinner for us,” she told Ronan pointedly, pouring herself a glass. 

She didn’t even like whisky all that much, but once again: she was here to prove a point. Ronan looked amused at the idea of Blue hardly managing to swallow the small sip she took without coughing up a storm. 

“I’m more of a rum person anyway,” she said defending herself. 

Blue pushed the bottle of Jameson over to Ronan. “Do you want some, Mr. Irishman?” she offered. 

He pushed it back over to Blue. “Someone has to stay sober to fight him later,” Ronan said glaring at Whelk. 

Whelk glared right back at Ronan. It was obvious Whelk was mad that it was a trio instead of a duo.  

“Let’s be nice, Ronan. We have a guest. I’m sure you can manage that for an evening. Open up your mind a little bit,” Blue teased. 

Whelk had poured himself a glass and took a sip. “Open up your mind indeed,” he muttered to himself. 

Ronan practically growled at Whelk, roughly grabbing his fork and twirling his spaghetti. This was the second most tense dinner she’d ever had. The first one being the first time she met her mother’s now-husband, the former hit man. 

Blue took a bite of her spaghetti and then pointed her fork and waved it between Ronan and Whelk. 

“You two seem to have a lot in common,” she stated. 

Ronan looked scandalized to even be compared to Whelk, and his face showed it in a rare form of emotion that wasn’t anger. Whelk seemed surprised. 

“You’re both recluses, seem to be angry at the world for whatever reasons, I’m sure you can talk about a lot of things if you  _ just tried _ .” 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Sargent.” 

Whelk was looking at Ronan now. Ronan seemed to find the attention unwanted and uncomfortable. 

“Have you ever been so angry you punched all the windows out? Or hit a wall so hard, you broke your hand?” Whelk wondered pensively. 

Ronan’s nostrils flared dangerously, and he scowled even more than he had at the beginning of the dinner. He took another drink of Jameson, and bared his teeth. Whelk seemed to understand that as a yes. 

Blue was watching on in fascination, slowly eating her spaghetti and taking little sips of the whisky she was now determined to finish. 

“Or went looking for companionship, someone to be with, only to get through the woods covered in animal blood?” 

Blue stopped a forkful of pasta mid-way to her mouth. She didn’t know what that could possibly mean, but by the way Ronan was glaring he understood. She wondered if there really was such a thing as the bro code. 

Whelk nodded, and slapped his hand on Ronan’s shoulder in a companionable way. Ronan yanked it out of his grip like he’d been burned by a fire and snarled at Whelk, and then glared at Blue. 

After about a half hour, dinner was over, and the three of them made their way over to the couch. Ronan was still hostile, but the whisky in all of them made them warm up to each other a little bit. 

Whelk had just been telling a story about his college days, having Blue laugh. She took another sip of the rum and coke she had made herself after she finished the whisky. She felt warm and buzzed, the perfect amount of drunk for her liking. 

“I haven’t enjoyed myself like this in ages. Thank you,” Whelk said, his words slurring a little. 

“Thank you, for fixing all these things in the apartment. I know these idiots,” she said hitting Ronan in the chest, who just let out a grunt, “won’t tell you their appreciation, but I will.” 

Whelk then stood up and went to the bathroom, leaving Ronan and Blue alone. Once he was out of sight, Ronan put the glass down and sat up to look at Blue. 

“I was right! He totally doesn’t want to fuck me,” Blue said. 

Ronan looked at her like she was crazy. “What do you mean you were right? Are we looking at the same guy? He’s obviously trying to be nice to me so I don’t lay down punches on his face, like I want to.” 

“Just admit you were wrong,” Blue said. 

“How did you live alone for so long?” 

Blue got offended and shoved Ronan’s chest. “That is rude. I am a perfectly sensible person.” She jabbed her finger towards the bathroom. “There is no way this guy wants to sleep with me.” 

Ronan nodded his head. “Yes he does, he’s been creeping on you all night.”

His face then dropped as he looked behind her .His eyebrows shot up on his head, and his blue eyes looked burned. Blue turned around to see what he was looking at, and then felt her face mirror his. 

Whelk was still in his dress shirt, and showing his boxer briefs. 

“What the fuck?” Blue squeaked. She then cleared her throat. “Uh, Whelk, what happened to your pants?” 

He glanced at Ronan, distaste in his look before his eyes went back to Blue. He nodded his head a little. “I wasn’t really prepared for this, but I guess I can try a threesome.” 

Blue was stunned into silence. She could feel the look of disgust on her face, and she turned to Ronan, who had a mix of disgust too, but just a hint of a smirk and the words I told you so on his lips as he looked at Blue. But she was determined to push through, god damn it. She let out a sigh and put on her best smile for Whelk. 

“Um, Whelk, why don’t you just go into my room, and we’ll be there in a second.” 

He just nodded his head and walked down the hallway. Blue and Ronan got up, and walked outside her door, which was closed. Blue hated how much taller Ronan was than her, making her look up at him. Now he had a giant smirk on his face. 

“I love watching you be so wrong, Maggot. It brings me so much joy,” he sneered. 

She jabbed her finger onto his chest. “God damn it, Lynch. I might’ve glanced over this one time. But you know what, he didn’t seem so bad tonight.” 

Ronan leaned down and threw his head back groaning before standing full height again. “Jesus Christ, this guy is an asshole. He fucking used you to get him to sleep. Stop making excuses, and just admit you were wrong.” 

“You know, if you don’t want to say it, just go in there right now,” he dared. And then he opened up the door. 

“Ronan,” Blue growled. “You would seriously do a threesome with Whelk, to get me to say the words?”

He shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms. The colors of his tattoos popped out more than usual in the lightning. “ _Open up your mind a little bit_.”  

Ronan sauntered in the room, with Blue following behind. He clapped his hands together, and cracked his knuckles, still glaring at Whelk. He wasn’t dropping the hostile attitude. Whelk plugged in his Iphone to the doc Blue had, and music started playing. 

Blue couldn’t believe this was happening. She cursed her stubbornness for making her continue on, and she cursed Ronan’s stubbornness too. Whelk seemed to be prepping himself. 

“Call it quits now, Sargent. Just fucking admit it,” Ronan whispered. 

“Nope, this is happening,” Blue said, and pointed to Whelk who was explaining things she didn’t even understand, “with  _ this guy _ .” She wrinkled her nose. 

Ronan had a malicious twinkle in his eyes that Blue did not like. “This isn’t my first  _ rodeo _ ,” he teased, making fun of what she had said earlier. Blue never hated Ronan more than in that exact moment. 

It was becoming a little more weird now, the music just making everything more uncomfortable. “Just say you’re wrong, Sargent. Just three words.” 

Blue shook her head, and when Whelk put his hands on her shoulders she yanked viciously out of his grip. He then guided Ronan and Blue together. 

“You two can start this,” he instructed. 

“Yeah, let’s get the gay one to start with the girl,” Ronan muttered. “Say the words, Sargent,” he threatened.

“I’m not saying them.” 

“Okay, you asked for this,” Ronan then swooped in, making Blue make a gag noise and push away from Ronan. He had a big grin on his face.

“Agh fine! I was wrong! God damn it,” she shouted. “Never do that to me again.” 

“This was a one time thing, Maggot. You’re not my type anyway.” Then he turned to Whelk who seemed confused at what was happening. “And slimey assholes aren’t my type either,” he sneered. 

Suddenly, the creaking of the door was heard. They all turned to see Adam standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a white dress shirt, with the first two buttons undone and fitting slacks and shiny shoes. He looked surprised at what he walked in to. Blue snuck a glance at Ronan, who also looked surprised and had red on his cheeks now. 

“Uh, I knocked on the door, and it was open,” he greeted. He turned to Blue, and she could see all the questions in his head. “I’m just here to borrow your seasickness bracelets.” 

“What do you need those for?” Ronan asked gruffly. 

“A networking event for a client of mine, Lynch. Seems like your night is more interesting than mine though,” he quipped. 

Ronan flushed bright red and scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. Blue searched in one of her drawers before finding a case with the bracelets inside. She handed them over to Adam who smiled. 

“You’re a lifesaver, Blue.” He adjusted the bands and slipped them on his wrists. 

He looked at Whelk, who looked embarrassed, and curtly nodded his head before looking at Blue, his fair eyebrows raised up. 

“Do I want to know how this came to be?” he wondered. 

Blue put a hand on his shoulder. “Story for another day. Go get them out there, and have fun!” 

The two of them hugged before Adam made his swift departure. Blue turned to Whelk and awkwardly smiled. “Well, it was nice for you to come to dinner. If there’s any more problems we’ll call.” 

A few minutes later Whelk was out the door, and Blue heaved a sigh of relief. Ronan was still basking in the glory of his win. And then suddenly, a lightbulb exploded, scaring the shit out Blue. 

“We are never calling him for anything again,” Blue said. 

“And we will never speak of what happened to anyone, got it Maggot?” Ronan added. 

Blue nodded. “Deal.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it. Like I said, nothing explicit, and there is no crazy character age gap in this AU, which is why it's an AU. Comments and kudos are appreciated. Thanks everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam has a life scare to deal with. Gansey ropes in the guys to babysit a kid for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the fastest I've ever written chapters out for a story, but I love writing them so much! So this is the first part of the next arc, which is the Babysitting arc. It introduces a new character, one loved my many, though she doesn't have hoofs in this mortal au. ;) 
> 
> All of the comments and kudos and reactions to this story, in general, are the best things ever. They keep me motivated to write out chapters every few days. I hope you all enjoy this arc. It's been a lot of fun to write so far. 
> 
> This wasn't beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Adam had come knocking on the loft’s door in a frenzy. When Blue opened it up, he rushed past her and went into her room, making Blue follow. Blue was confused because she could count on one hand how many times she’d seen Adam this frazzled about something. And that was when she knew it was serious. 

Adam was sitting on her bed, hunched over with his hands over his face. Blue tentatively sat next to him and placed a hand on his leg, asking what was up. He had let out a groan and pulled at his dusty hair before flopping backward on the couch. And then he broke the news. 

Sure since she had moved in with the Three Stooges, she hadn’t seen Adam nearly as often as they used to. But that was also because they had their own lives, and jobs to work. And she knew that Adam has always been extremely private about his personal life, and that even extended to Blue. She didn’t expect him to tell her every single detail about his life, especially his romantic and sexual life; she didn’t do that with him either most times. But apparently, she knew very little about what has been happening with Adam Parrish in the past few months. 

He had sat up again and pulled at the roots of his hair. His blue eyes were wide, and he seemed to be in shock. Blue gently placed an arm around his shoulders, leaning her head on it. This was a lot to process for her too. 

“Was she on birth control?” she asked, and then she sat up and looked Adam in the eyes, “did you use a condom?” she demanded and smacked his arm. 

Adam sputtered and grabbed his arm where she had hit. “What? Of course, I did, Blue! I’m not an idiot! And she told me she was, so I don’t know how this could’ve happened! We broke up over a month ago!” 

Blue just nodded her head, trying to process the thoughts. She glanced over Adam, who seemed to be in a far away place, thinking probably a million thoughts at once. This was definitely the most frazzled she’d ever seen him in all her years of friendship. 

“And she called you today and told you that?” Blue questioned. 

“Mmhmm. She missed her period, and freaked out,” he confirmed. 

“Maybe it’s a fluke. I mean, everytime my period comes late, I suddenly think I’m going to become the next Virgin Mary,” Blue said trying to cheer him up. 

It seemed to work, he let out a little laugh and looked at her. He seemed to have more freckles than she remembered. And then she imagined what a little baby that had Adam Parrish’s genes in them would look like. Adam was probably so cute as a baby himself; but he didn’t have any pictures of himself prior to high school, so she’d never know. 

Blue remembered Adam mentioning the girl he was seeing once. She knew her name was Scarlett, and she was also an engineer. And she also knew he met her when he went on that yacht networking event, that night he’d walked in on her and Ronan playing a game of chicken with their landlord Whelk. Adam had even shown her a picture, and she found her very pretty. They’d have gorgeous babies together, she thought. Not that she’d ever say that to a freaking out Adam, who didn’t want to have children as far as she knew.  

“Don’t say that in front of Lynch. He’d probably condemn you to Hell for making jokes about the Blessed Mother like that,” he joked back. Blue was relieved that he was able to still be snarky. 

“Good thing I’m not religious then,” Blue countered. The two of them shared a laugh together. 

A moment later he let out another groan of despair and hunched over again. “Fuck, this literally can’t be happening. I wish I was religious so I could at least pray to a God, or gods, or whatever the fuck.” 

Blue rubbed circles over his back. “Well, seriously, it could just be a fluke. Periods can be tricky bastards, so maybe you can survive the weekend, and then hopefully she calls you to say it was a false alarm.” 

Adam looked up, and he had a skeptical look on his face. “I seriously hope so. It’s even worse now that we don’t even see each other anymore. We weren’t even dating really, it was more of a flirtatious, maybe, that happened to end in sex one time. Ugh.” 

The door opened and revealed Noah. He was always the most curious one of the three of them. Adam glared at him, obviously not appreciating being interrupted on an extremely personal conversation between two best friends. 

“What’s up with all the moanin’ and groanin’? Adam, you look pale, Blue you too,” he said cheerfully. He looked between the two of them for a few more moments, and his face shifted. His gray eyes widened, and his blonde eyebrows shot up and his mouth formed an ‘o’. He pointed at Adam. 

“Parrish and Sargent, you sly dogs! Are you and Blue seeing each other now?” he exclaimed. He jumped up and down. “ _ Secrets, secrets are no fun, unless you share with everyone! _ ” he sang. 

Blue glared, having been reminded of the weird distant relative, Gwenllian who lived

at 300 Fox Way in Henrietta. Adam’s face was bright red from embarrassment, and she could see his jaw clenching. He threw a pillow at Noah’s face, who caught it still laughing gleefully. 

“We aren’t seeing each other,” he growled. “Now get out!” 

He threw his hands up in front of him. “Whoa there, hot shot. No need for the hostility. I can keep a secret. I have plenty of them,” he said, and then winked suggestively before closing the door behind him. 

When they were alone again, Adam turned to Blue. “How do you  live with these guys?” 

Blue shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a learning curve that never ends. They keep things interesting though.” 

Adam scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah,  _ interesting _ all right.” 

* * *

Ronan and Noah sat at the island table in the kitchen. Ronan was busy eating the lucky charms he had poured himself, half listening to whatever escapade Noah had gone on with whatever woman he found on Tinder.

All he thought about was how the mascot for Lucky Charms was extremely bigoted towards Irish people like himself. And the abysmal Irish brogue he used to hear on advertisements on TV when he was a kid. He wished he hated the cereal, but it tasted too fucking good for him to give up. 

Gansey came into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of iced tea from the fridge and sat down next to Ronan. He was looking through his phone and seemed to be more jittery than usual. Ronan took another bite of his cereal. 

“The fuck’s up with you today?” he asked his mouth still full. 

Gansey looked up from his phone. He was even wearing his wireframes, Ronan observed; that was a really good indication that Gansey was flustered about something. He glanced at his phone screen again before turning it over on the table and taking a sip of his drink. 

“Opal’s going to be here in a few minutes, and I was just running around making sure the apartment was okay for a child to roam around.” 

Ronan let out a groan and threw his head back. He forgot that Gansey had roped them all into babysitting the foster kid of one of his professor colleagues for the day. Why he even thought that was a good idea was beyond Ronan. Noah looked confused. 

“Who’s Opal?” he asked. 

Gansey turned to Noah. “It’s Marjorie's foster daughter,” he quickly said to remind Noah who let out an “ohhhh,” nodding his head. 

Gansey turned to Ronan. “That means the best behavior from everyone. No f-bombs, no b-bombs, actually, you know what, no cursing in general,” he said pointedly at Ronan. 

“Well,  _ fuck _ , Dick. The  _ fuck _ am I supposed to do? Can’t curse, can’t call Sargent a  _ bitch _ , can’t say I’m going to take a  _ piss  _ or a  _ shit _ . Jesus, guess I won’t talk then because ninety-nine percent of my vernacular is illegal now in this household,” Ronan quipped. 

Noah let out a howl of laughter, and Gansey just pursed his lips and gave him the look. Gansey then turned on Noah too. 

“No bringing college home girls either, Czerny. I mean it,” Gansey said, which shut Noah right up. 

“That’s not fair. The girl I’m seeing is totally,  _ mature _ ,” he said, giving the a-okay hand gesture. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. 

Gansey just glanced at Noah. He took another sip of iced tea. “Go put some pants on Czerny, for the love of God.” 

He just sighed like it was the most inconvenient thing. He got up and walked around, flashing how tight and short those stupid European briefs were. Then he walked into his room and shut the door. 

“Have Parrish and Sargent left the room yet?” Ronan asked stirring his soggy cereal. 

“No, but I do wonder what they are talking about. Adam seemed to be pretty startled when he came rushing in this morning,” Gansey said, a curious look on his face. 

Ronan snorted. “Probably realized he had a dollar left in his bank account and went to the next poorest person he knew to relate his problems too.” 

Gansey looked at him with his polite chastising look. “Go put ten dollars in the Dick Jar. And don’t be an asshole to Adam. He really is a swell guy.” 

Ronan grunted before standing up and fetching a ten-dollar bill out of his wallet. Ronan did know just how swell of a guy Adam Parrish is; because they’d been seeing each other in secret for the past month. 

“So why are we babysitting a brat again?” Ronan asked when he sat back down. He placed his spoon at the edge of the bowl and tipped it to his mouth, filtering out the soggy cereal. The milk was disgustingly sweet. 

“Oh, Marjorie just needed someone to babysit Opal for the day. She and her wife are out of town for a historic summit in Berkeley. And I volunteered, mostly to try and get on her good side. She is the head of the history department, and I am the newest addition.” 

Gansey’s phone buzzed, and he looked at it quickly before standing up. “She’s here. I hope Noah put some pants on.” 

With that, he left the loft, and Ronan emptied out his cereal in the garbage before placing the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. He really didn’t want Noah or Sargent on his ass about being a slob. 

He walked over to the couch and sat down. Chainsaw flew from wherever she was and into his lap. Ronan reached behind him and grabbed the Ziploc bag filled with her food. He put some in his hand and held it out for her to peck at. 

Noah came down to sit next to him a few minutes later. Ronan glanced over and saw he thankfully had put some pants on, and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. He watched closely at Chainsaw and Ronan. 

“Are you going to let her loose around Opal?” he wondered. 

“Gansey can take away my cursing, but he can’t take away my bird,” Ronan responded. 

Noah hummed and nodded like he agreed with that logic; knowing him he probably did. He leaned against the couch and propped his feet up on the other cushions. 

“So what do you think has Adam in a tizzy?” 

“I already had this conversation with Gansey.” 

“Well have it with me. He was pretty mad I interrupted him and Blue. His glare could rival yours, Ronan.”

In all honesty, Ronan was a little worried. The relationship between him and Parrish was new; if he could even call it that. Really it was just the two of them sneaking around, him going to Parrish’s shitty one-bedroom apartment to make out and have sex with. They hadn’t even gone on a date yet. But he liked Parrish a lot, and he figured he liked Ronan too. But Parrish was Ronan’s secret. 

The door to the loft opened up, and Gansey and Opal came in. Opal was probably around ten years old. She was short but next to Gansey it made her look taller. She was pale-skinned and had blonde hair that was covered by a skullcap. She was wearing a dress and leggings and boots that would’ve made Sargent proud. Ronan couldn’t help but think she was a good combination of Noah, himself and Sargent. 

“Guys, this is Opal. Be nice. Noah, I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to use your pasta maker,” Gansey said. 

Blue emerged from her room and looked taken back by the small child underneath Gansey’s hand. She looked to the three of them. 

“Who’s small child is this?” she asked. Her eyes were wide, and she turned towards her room for a brief second and back again. 

“Jane, didn’t I tell you we were going to be babysitting a colleague's daughter for the day?” Gansey said. 

“Oh, yeah. Right. Okay.” Was all she said before running back into her room. 

Gansey turned his attention back to Noah, still asking for permission. Noah was easy going about almost everything, except when it came to his kitchen things. He was very particular about where everything is and should be and how to prepare meals properly. Looking at Gansey, Noah looked pained at the idea of a little child touching his kitchen things, but he gave a smile to Gansey anyway. 

“Oh, you’re going to teach Opal,” he started, “how to make overcooked mush?” 

Gansey let out a disappointed look. “You are the jester, Noah.” 

“He’ll let you touch it if he makes the pasta himself,” Ronan added with a smirk on his face. Gansey and Noah didn’t appreciate that. 

Opal was looking at Ronan with wide black eyes. He didn’t like that attention from that small child and squirmed away from her subtly. Noah perked up. 

“And I’m bringing Camilla home tonight.” 

Gansey shook his head in objection. “No, you aren’t.” 

“Too late, I already invited her. And you guys have been  _ pooping,” _ he emphasized, giving an exaggerated wink to Gansey, “on her for no reason. She’s smart and mature. Guys, she knows about  _ art _ . Famous artists like Banksy, or the guy who did the Obama campaign posters.” 

He watched as Opal left Gansey’s side and sat on the couch next to Ronan. She leaned forward towards Chainsaw with a curious look in her eyes. 

“Is that a raven?” she asked softly. She had a hint of an accent that sounded Northern Irish. Ronan hated how it sounded like his father’s had. 

Ronan curtly nodded not trusting himself to speak. She looked up at him, her gaze piercing. “Can I pet her?” 

He got Chainsaw’s attention so she wasn’t startled when a foreign hand was touching her. He moved Chainsaw to be closer to Opal, and she gently started to pet her feathers. Surprisingly, Chainsaw seemed accepting to the soft little hands. 

Noah leaned in close to Ronan’s ear. “Someone likes you and your weird corvid bird pets,” he crooned. Ronan jumped and smacked Noah in the face, eliciting a laugh from Opal, and from Noah himself.  

“Shut up, Noah,” he growled. 

This was going to be a long-ass day.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm glad I was able to put Opal in here somewhere. This just seemed like the perfect fit. And Adam and Ronan are officially seeing each other, in secret of course. So you are now seeing the beginning of their relationship. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcomed and encouraged. Thanks everyone!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the babysitting arc. Ronan and Adam have a big fight, and secrets are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the longest chapter thus far. It's just over 4k words! And a lot of drama happens in this chapter. 
> 
> Please forgive me for Adam's bad habit, but I took it from Amy Santiago's character from Brooklyn 9-9. I myself think it's a horrible habit to have, but it makes his character more well-rounded and flawed. Still love my son though. 
> 
> Thank you again for all the kudos and comments. It really makes my day, and I'm so glad all of you are enjoying this ride with me. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this chapter! This is also not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

Opal had taken a keen interest in Ronan and Chainsaw and was practically glued to his side on the couch where he stayed. 

Chainsaw seemed to enjoy Opal as well, which was a little bit of a surprise. She had taken months to get used to Gansey and Noah and Henry when he first found her and taken her in. She seemed to like Blue and Adam a lot though but still took some time. The raven was content to stay in the little girl’s lap and be pet by her soft hand. 

“What’s that one?” she asked, pointing to one of his tattoos on his left arm. 

Normally the sleeves of ink that covered both his arms and shoulders scared off adults and children. Pair it together with his shaved head, people tended to stay away from him. Opal didn’t seem to care and was interested. 

Ronan looked down to where the little finger was pointed. “It’s Saint Michael,” he answered. 

“Who’s that?” she questioned. 

Ronan didn’t want to play twenty questions about every tattoo he has on his body. Especially the one that covered the entirety of his back, that he had gotten in a fit of rage and spite at sixteen. At least that one was mostly covered by his shirt. 

“The leader of the Archangels, who judges who gets into heaven, and fought Lucifer,” he explained. 

“Why do you have that tattooed?” she asked. 

Ronan bit a groan that was formulating inside of him. He opted for a sigh and a roll of his eyes. “Because I’m a practicing Catholic.” 

This seemed to satisfy her and she stopped asking questions. At that moment, Blue and Adam burst out of Blue’s room. Blue was sprinting, and holding something in her hands. She scanned the room and locked eyes with Ronan. 

“Lynch, catch!” she said before tossing something. Ronan caught it from instinct and looked down at it. It was a pack of cheap cigarettes. 

“Blue, give me the fucking pack of cigarettes,” Adam demanded. He looked annoyed and ruffled. 

He was in a white t-shirt that clung to his muscles and body in all the right ways, and a pair of jeans that were artfully worn and scuffed and a pair of boots. His tan skin shone in the sunlight that came through the windows, and his dirty blonde hair reflected the light perfectly. Ronan hated how well he looked and hated how this whole thing with him was a secret. 

Blue turned around and opened up her palms wide. Adam looked at them and scowled a little more. 

“I don’t got ‘em. And you gave them to me in the first place for a reason.” 

Adam grabbed at the roots of his hair and let out a loud groan. Ronan tried to not to imagine him sounding like that when they’re together. He watched him cross his arms over his chest. 

“Seriously, just give them back. Where did you put them?” he asked in an exasperated tone. 

“If you can find them, then you can take them. I’m not gonna give them out to you,” Blue snapped. 

Ronan decided to join in this conversation. “Parrish, don’t you know smoking’s bad for you?” 

Adam whipped his glare towards Ronan and scowled. Ronan knew he hated when people doubted his intelligence. 

“God, I’m not an idiot.” 

“Only an idiot is willing to do something they know kills them,” Blue muttered under her breath. It was still loud enough for Adam and Ronan to hear. 

He let out another groan of annoyance. He turned his head towards Blue who was scowling. Adam threw his hands up in the air. 

“Jesus, Blue. You only know I smoke when I get stressed,” he defended. 

“And you were doing so well. I haven’t seen you do this since grad school,” Blue countered. 

Ronan found this conversation interesting. And he hadn’t realized that Adam smoked, which Ronan would deal with later. But he wanted to keep messing with him. 

“What’s got your panties so tight that you’re going to start smoking these?” he asked, raising the pack of cigarettes in his hand to show off. 

Adam glared at Ronan and he could see he was about to retort with something scathing when he saw his blue eyes dart to Opal. Then they widened like he’d seen a ghost. 

“Why is there a child here?” he asked. 

Ronan wondered if Adam didn’t like children either. Apparently, he still had a lot to learn about him. Blue scoffed and rolled her eyes, obviously still annoyed at Adam and his bad habit. She flapped her hand in the direction of the kitchen where Noah and Gansey were, making a ruckus. 

“Gansey promised to watch over a co-worker’s kid for the day or something. Chill the hell out would you?” 

Adam huffed and walked over to Ronan and stood above him. He held his hand out expectantly. 

“Lynch, give me the cigarettes,” he demanded in that cool timbre of his. 

“You expect me to just give them to you without saying please? Aren’t you Southern folk supposed have the best manners?” he teased. 

Ronan also knew how he hated to be referred to as a Southerner. He tries to clip his accent as much as he can, but sometimes it slips out before he can get a handle on it again. He let out a grunt. 

“Please give me the box, Lynch,” he gritted out. 

Ronan slapped the box into his open palm and closed it before patting it twice on top. He smirked at Adam. 

“Remember smoking ages you prematurely. It would be a shame if that face of yours turned old in the next week,” he taunted. Adam didn’t seem to like it. 

“I already aged prematurely in childhood,” he muttered darkly while slipping a cigarette from the box into his mouth, and stashing the box in his pocket. He opened up the porch doors and slammed them behind him. Ronan hated how much it made him look like a character out of _Grease_ , or _Rebel Without a Cause_.

Noah and Gansey came back into the room after. Noah looked over at the porch doors, which showed the silhouette of Adam hunched over the railing, occasionally taking drags from the cigarette. His pale features were pinched. 

“He really doesn’t like us, does he?” Noah wondered out loud.       

 Blue let out a sigh and threw herself onto the couch. She was on the other side of Opal, who had just been observing the entire fight and conversation with curious eyes. Ronan appreciated that she wasn’t much of a talker; except to him, it seemed. She closed her eyes and placed an arm over her face. 

“It takes a while for him to warm up to new people. But keep acting like rich, pretentious pricks, and he might never like you,” she said matter-of-factly. 

Gansey looked offended. “I’m not a prick, am I?” he asked, worried suddenly of his own self. 

Blue released another sigh. “You all flaunt your wealth too much for his liking and frankly mine too. He’s very prideful and wary about his social class, and you constantly offering to cover food and shit doesn’t make him like you more. And you talk like an old money politician.” 

Gansey was about to say something else, but Blue put up her hand silencing him. “I don’t care if your mother is Secretary of State. I was just making a point.” 

While Blue was talking, Opal had grabbed her hand and was looking at all the rings that adorned her fingers. Blue didn’t seem to mind like it was something she was used to. Opal was sliding them back and forth, showing off the ridiculous tan lines. 

The porch doors opened up again, and Adam came back inside looking significantly calmer. He ran a hand through his hair and sat down next to Ronan. The smell of smoke was fresh on Adam, and he scooted a little away just to annoy him. Adam seemed to catch the motion and rolled his eyes. 

Noah looked at the watch on his hand and his eyes widened. “Oh, gotta go meet up with Camilla!” 

He ran over to the front door, and put on his sneakers quickly, and turned towards Gansey. “Don’t break my pasta maker and that kitchen better not be a mess when I get back!” he called out before running out the door. 

Ronan grunted and got up from the couch. He gave a vicious smile towards him. “Have fun babysitting.” 

Gansey came around the couch and stopped him in his tracks. “Oh no, you’re helping me, Ronan.” 

“And why would I do that?” 

“Think of it as repayment for that one time,” he said, emphasizing the last two words. He had a pointed look on his face. 

Ronan threw his head back and groaned. Gansey always pulled that card on him when he wanted Ronan to do something. 

“That’s not fucking fair,” he complained. 

“Hey! What’d I say about f-bombs? And yes it is fair. You wrecked the Pig when I was out of town.” 

“I was seventeen years old. Jesus Christ, get over it. It happened almost ten years ago.” 

“You’re gonna be paying that back for the rest of your life Lynch, whether you like it or not. Now, I’d say it’s high time to make some pasta. Opal, come join us,” Gansey said finalizing the conversation. 

The three of them joined in the kitchen, while Adam and Blue went out somewhere together. Ronan hadn’t had homemade pasta since his mother made it when he still lived at home. He remembered helping her make it when he was little, and he’d always end up with flour in his hair. 

He should call her soon, he thought to himself as they continued on. 

Opal wasn’t tall enough to see the countertop of the island, so Ronan pulled over a barstool to get her to kneel on. She seemed pretty interested in everything but making the pasta, and whatever bullshit history facts Gansey was spitting out. 

“Did you know, Ancient Egyptians used their feet to flatten the pasta.” 

“Why don’t we do it that way then? I’d love to eat feet flavored pasta,” Ronan muttered, “then we’d really be living like commoners. Sargent and Parrish would be so proud.” 

Opal gave a little giggle at Ronan’s comment, which surprised him. She had been so quiet he had almost forgotten she was there. Gansey looked at him like he was an insolent child, as he put the dough through the pasta maker. 

“Put money in the jar, Ronan. And don’t be such an ass,” he chastised. 

Ronan stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the twenty dollar bill that was in there. He gave a grin at Gansey as he walked over to the mostly filled jar. “What happened to no cursing around Opal?” 

“I don’t mind it,” Opal said with the shrug of her shoulders. 

Ronan liked this child. And Gansey elected to ignore that jab and continued to make pasta. They did that for a few more minutes before they noticed Opal was gone. Ronan and Gansey looked at each other. 

“Where’d she go?” Ronan asked. 

Gansey peered around the corner quickly to see if the front door was open, which it wasn’t. He walked down the hallway towards the rooms of Ronan, Blue, and Noah. Ronan followed him. 

The door to Ronan’s room was open, and he rushed past Gansey to see if she was inside. Opal was on his bed, looking through his box of random shit he’d accumulated. She noticed their presence, and picked something up and bit onto it. 

“Hey, the hell are you doing with that?” he demanded. 

She took her mouth off of it, and then observed it from different angles close up to her face. That reminded him of the way Adam seemed to approach everything in his life. She then dropped it in the box. 

“You have a lot of clutter in your room,” she stated, and looked somewhere else, “and a lot of tickets. Do you break the law a lot?” 

Ronan bristled, he did not want to interrogated by a ten-year-old child. “None of your business, brat.” 

“Ronan!” Gansey exclaimed with a gasp. Opal didn’t seem bothered by the name. 

Ronan let out a sigh. “I don’t have time for this. Opal, get out of my room and make pasta with Gansey. Let’s go.” 

He walked over to her and pushed her off his bed and out of his room. Opal didn’t seem too excited as she glared at Ronan and muttered something he recognized as Gaelic, as she walked out behind Gansey. 

He slammed the door closed and laid on his bed. Chainsaw must’ve flown in through at some point because she hopped up next to him and perched next to his head and nuzzled. He picked her up and sat her on his chest, looking up at the ceiling. The little glow in the dark stars Matthew had put up there on a visit glowed a little in the dim room. 

“Do you think I should actually ask Adam out?” he asked Chainsaw. 

Her beady eyes just looked at him, and she tilted her head like she was contemplating the answer she would give. Ronan often found her disturbingly human; he could understand why Ravens came up so much in poetry or art or mythology. They were frighteningly intelligent creatures. 

“ _ Kerah _ ,” she squawked back to him. Ronan nodded his head. He ran his free hand through the bristles of his buzz cut and sighed. 

“God, we’ve been seeing each other for a month. But we haven’t really done anything. And he was freaking out about something. I just keep thinking it’s about this relationship or whatever the fuck we have going on. Maybe he doesn’t want to go on a date. Fuck what should I do?” he ranted.

The thing was Ronan like Adam a lot. He’s liked him since the first time he saw him on the side of the interstate to fix the Pig. And when they’d decided to do whatever this is they’re doing; sneaking around to make out and have sex in private without anyone knowing. He hoped that Adam liked him back enough to actually start a relationship. 

Ronan normally didn’t do anything that wasn’t serious. He never half-assed relationships with people he liked. He didn’t kiss or have sex, or anything like that with random people. So he had no idea why he agreed to do it with Adam, who came swooping into his life six months ago with his stupid Southern charm and sarcastic wit to match Ronan’s barbs. 

“Kerah,” Chainsaw said more firmly. He opened his eyes to look at her. 

“I’m talking to a fucking bird about my love life problems,” he grumbled to himself. 

“Kerah!” 

Ronan got up off his bed. He’d made a decision. Ronan has lived most of his life making stupid, and brash decisions. Asking Adam out on a date was just another to stack up. He put Chainsaw down on his bed before opening the door back up. 

“Talking to birds is way fucking easier than to hot guys.”

* * *

Adam and Blue came back about an hour later. Gansey, Opal, and Ronan were all eating the homemade spaghetti watching some movie about King Arthur, to which Gansey was pointing out all the historical inaccuracies. Ronan would quip something about how annoying it is to watch anything with him, making Opal giggle into her food. Ronan like having someone appreciate his wit.

“Where did you guys go?” Gansey asked after swallowing a bite of his food. 

“To take a walk in the park,” Blue responded taking off her shoes. 

“Did you make sure Parrish stayed in the smoker’s only designated areas?” Ronan jabbed. 

Adam glared at Ronan and scowled. “Fuck off, Lynch.” 

“Nah, I stole the pack back from him, and threatened to tell my mother about if he even tried to grab for another one.” 

Ronan let out a bark of laughter. “Scared the witch will cast a spell on you?” 

“No, I’m more afraid of waking up to knocking on my door tomorrow to find three angry women who flew out from Virginia to L.A. just to chew me out. And you’ve never met Calla before, she’s venomous; just like you, Lynch.” 

“Those two would have a field day together. Just glaring and making scathing comments to each other. And when she gets a read on him, oh I’d pay money for that,” Blue said with amusement. 

Obviously, Adam knew what she was talking about. The two of them shared a smile at the mere thought of this Calla woman. 

Ronan saw this as his opportunity to ask Adam the question that had been bugging him. He stood up suddenly, making all of them look at him. 

“Parrish, a word?” Ronan grumbled. 

Adam arched an eyebrow at him curiously but followed him nonetheless into his room. Ronan could feel the stares of everyone else burning his neck. He slammed the door as Adam sat on his bed. He looked around a curious look in his eyes. 

“I’ve never actually stepped into your room before, Lynch.” He looked at the back of his door. “Are those photocopies of speeding tickets?” he wondered. 

Ronan smirked. “Yeah, always adding to the collection.” 

Adam looked at him after a few moments and crossed his arms. Ronan couldn’t stop staring at the muscles that flexed against his shirt when he did that. He cleared his throat. 

“So what did you beckon my presence for, Lynch? I know this isn’t a get to know you deal.” 

Ronan felt his face heat up. He crossed his arms over his chest too. He cursed internally, wondering why this was so fucking hard. “Parrish, I was thinking about us, and I was thinking about asking you out on a real date.” 

Adam’s face morphed into one of surprise. “A date? Like a real date?” 

Ronan rolled his eyes. “Get with the program, Parrish. Yes, a real date.” 

“You know if we do this, we have to actually tell our friends right?” he stated. 

He groaned. Why the fuck was Adam making this so fucking hard? It was pretty straightforward, yes or no. 

“God, it doesn’t even have to be public if you don’t want it. I was just suggesting it. Yes or no?” 

Adam had a smirk appear on his face. He looked too smug for Ronan’s liking. He sat forward on his bed. “And do you have any ideas as to where this could be?” 

“If you fucking agree, we can come up with something to your ridiculous code of ethics for yourself.” 

Suddenly his smugness fell, and he looked pained at the thought. Ronan felt his stomach drop to his feet. Adam ran a hand through his hair and inhaled a deep breath before exhaling. 

“This is a bad time, actually.” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ronan demanded. 

“I’m just going through some shit right now Ronan. Going on a date isn’t good at the moment.” 

“Parrish, we’ve been seeing each other for a month now. How is this a bad time?” 

“God, Lynch, I can’t tell you.” 

Jesus Christ, he thought. He’s definitely been seeing someone else while they’d been seeing each other. Of fucking course, this would happen to him. He let his guard down around Adam, and this was the punishment for it. Ronan threw his hands up. 

“Fine, but don’t fucking call me again,” he growled before stomping out of his room. 

Adam looked pained at the events that went down, but Ronan couldn’t care less. Gansey came up to Ronan. He spared a quick glance at Opal who was looking at something shiny in her hands and Blue was talking to her about.  

“I don’t know how this happened, but Opal seems to be really taken with you!” he softly said with awe. 

Ronan was still seething from the fight with Adam. Adam had come out of the room, looking like a kicked puppy. Ronan glared at him. “Yeah, well some people can actually fucking like me too, Gansey,” he spat. 

Adam flinched, and Gansey noticed the hostility between the two of them. His eyebrows were pinched together and his hazel eyes were narrowed. 

“Did you guys fight over something important?” he wondered. 

“None of your fucking business,” Ronan growled. 

Blue focused her attention back on Ronan and Gansey. She had her eyebrows quirked up on her head, and she was looking suspiciously at Ronan and Adam. Opal also had her attention on them. 

“I think Adam and Ronan are dating,” Opal stated innocently. 

Ronan froze and he saw Adam do the same thing. His blue eyes were wide and his mouth was open in shock. Blue and Gansey were obviously taken by surprise as well. Adam shook his head a moment later and glared at the girl. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he hissed. 

“That is the most absurd thing I’ve ever fucking heard. Parrish dating me? Please, I’d never be seen with him.” 

Adam glared at Ronan with a fire in his eyes. “What the fuck are you insinuating, Lynch?” 

“That you’re too fucking poor for me to be seen with. God if my brother ever saw you, he’d scoff in your face. And at least if I’m dating someone, I’d have the courtesy to only be seeing one person.” 

Adam got in his face and snarled. “You’re such a fucking piece of shit, really. And I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. I might not be a religious person or believe in your God, but that doesn’t mean I don’t live by a certain moral code. The fact that you’d even think anything but really shows what you think of me.” 

The instinct to brawl with Adam was right there on the surface. If this had been Declan or Kavinsky, he’d already be on the ground throwing punches and kicks. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it with Adam. There was something about the way he held himself that made Ronan stop. Adam looked like he was ready to fight too, but he’d never throw the first punch or kick. His stance was defensive like he was expecting a blow. 

After a moment, Adam’s shoulders hunched over and his muscles went loose. Ronan got out from his stance as well. Blue came up to Adam, and tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. Adam let out a sigh and mumbled something into Blue’s shoulder Ronan couldn’t understand. 

“Shhh, no Adam. You’ll never be like your father,” Blue muttered. 

Adam lifted his head from Blue’s shoulder. His eyes were misty looking, and he glanced over at Opal like she was the most painful thing he’d ever seen. Ronan was confused by what was happening. Opal looked like a frightened creature. Adam flapped his hand toward her, casting a miserable look at Blue. 

“That child is wearing the same exact face of fear I used to make when my father yelled like that. No matter how much I try to distance myself from him, he’s still there in the back of my mind whispering to me. He’s the demon I can never shake. This is the  _ exact _ reason why I didn’t want to become a father in the first place. Because if I ever make a child of my own feel the same terror I felt, I’d never forgive myself.” 

“You’re going to be a father?” Ronan found himself asking. 

Adam’s face dropped to one of pure shock. It was like he had forgotten Ronan and Gansey were still in the room with him. Gansey looked surprised by the revelation as well. Adam turned to face him, the pain was written all over his features.

“Shit,” he cursed. He let out a sigh and tossed his head back, trying to compose himself. 

Ronan felt his heart break. 

“It’s from this woman I saw like a month ago. It wasn't even serious. We saw each other like twice. She called me telling me she was late. It’s not definite,” he explained. 

“So, let me get this straight. Adam, you found out you might become the father to the child of an ex-girlfriend you broke up with a month ago? And then after you broke up, you started to see Ronan?” Gansey asked to clarify. 

Adam ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck. Yes. Ronan and I have been seeing each other.” 

“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Gansey said sounding aghast that they’d hide something from him. 

Blue threw her hands up in the air. “What the hell, Adam?” 

Adam scoffed. “This is exactly why I don’t fucking tell any of you about my life. I don’t need to be cross-examined every time.” 

The door opened and Noah and Camilla came in through. Noah took one look at everyone and raised his eyebrows. 

“What happened while I was gone?” he asked. 

“Adam might become a dad to a child with his ex-girlfriend, and he and Ronan have been seeing each other for a month,” Blue supplied. 

His gray eyes widened and his mouth dropped. “What. The. Hell!” 

Adam had his face in his hands and was shaking his head slowly. Ronan just glared at everyone, crossing his arms over his chest. This was definitely not how this day was supposed to go.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed it! This was a lot of fun to write, and probably the most serious and dramatic scene I've written so far. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. Thanks everyone!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 of the babysitting arc!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This arc has been kind of boring, but very dramatic. And we see some development in the character relationships now :) anyway this is the last part of this arc. I hope you all like it!
> 
> I also started school again, but I have 3 day weekends all semester! So I can at least try to plan a new chapter every weekend somehow. Maybe. Depending on how crazy this semester gets. 
> 
> This is not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Adam looked extremely pissed off and stressed out. After Noah’s exclamation, it went silent between all the people occupying the living room. The air was so tense, Ronan could’ve slashed it with a sword and it would’ve gotten stuck half way through the strike. 

Adam turned towards Blue and held out his hand. 

“Give me the pack,” he softly demanded. 

Blue looked miffed and on the verge of arguing back. Ronan could see the retort waiting on her lips. Adam sighed and closed his eyes. 

“Blue, don’t make me argue. Just give them to me.” 

The two of them just stared silently at each other for a few long moments. Blue relented and dug out the pack of cigarettes from her back pocket and all but slammed them into Adam’s open palm. Adam then immediately took one out and put it between his lips, while pocketing the pack and digging out a cheap lighter. 

“I wish you didn’t smoke,” she mumbled while looking down at the ground. 

“Whatever,” Adam grumbled, and then walked out onto the porch he had smoked earlier that day. 

“I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble,” Opal’s little voice said. 

Everyone turned their attention to her. She still looked meek and scared at the outburst between Adam and Ronan. Ronan immediately felt guilty for allowing it to escalate that much in front of a small kid. 

Blue immediately went over to the couch and sat close to Opal. She wrapped her arm around the small girl. 

“Oh sweet girl, you did nothing wrong,” she cooed, then she looked sharply at Ronan, “it’s their fault.”

Opal looked up at Blue and nodded her head like she understood and agreed with Blue. Ronan huffed in response, glaring at the wall. 

“So, you and Adam huh?” Noah asked with a smirk on his face. 

“For fuck’s sake, I’m not dealing with this,” Ronan said before stomping over to the porch and slamming the door behind him. 

The sun was already starting to descend across the sky, casting a warm glow across the skyline of downtown Los Angeles. The porch was usually void of any activity, only having a plastic chair and a small glass table. Ronan saw Adam leaning his arms against the railing, the cigarette hanging loosely from his fingers. 

Ronan walked up and mirrored Adam’s position. He looked down at all the people walking the streets going wherever they needed. Living in a large city often made him feel homesick of the Barns, that was in the middle of nowhere, with the Blue Ridge Mountains always in the background. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Ronan saw Adam take another drag of the cigarette, and gently tap the ashes on the ground below. A long exhale of smoke came from his mouth and nostrils. 

It was silent between the two of them, but the words Adam shouted minutes before kept repeating inside his head. 

_ If I ever make a child of my own feel the same terror I felt, I’d never forgive myself.   _

He often thought Adam was too much of an enigma for Ronan. There was just something about him that screamed:  _ secrets! Skeletons in my closet!  _ He was touchy when Blue mentioned something from their past, always quick to divert the conversation to something else. And there was a certain hunger to Adam; especially that came when they get intimate. It was something Ronan hadn’t seen in another man before. 

Ronan often knew that the cool temperament that Adam tried to convey was phony. He had a good facade playing, that fooled Gansey and Noah, and even Blue; but Ronan saw right through it because he recognized that fire in his own soul as well. And perhaps that was why he was so attracted to him in the first place. 

“Why’d you follow me out here?” Adam asked softly. 

His voice shocked Ronan out of his own thoughts. He looked over at Adam. He was still hunched over and looking straight forward. The setting sunlight illuminated his freckled tan skin and blue eyes even more than normal. His hair looked like it was woven from gold. 

“Couldn’t take the peanut gallery inside,” Ronan responded. 

Adam took another drag and nodded his head. He still wasn’t looking at Ronan. Adam looked haunted. His eyes were vacant. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ronan awkwardly offered. He ran a hand over his scalp, feeling the bristles of hair. 

Adam scoffed and put out the cigarette butt and threw it on the table behind him. He finally turned around and faced Ronan. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the railing. 

“Talk about what? The shit that came spewing from my mouth in front of everyone?” he said bitterly.

Ronan didn’t know how to respond, so he just shrugged his shoulders. “I’m a good listener.” 

Adam raised his eyebrows, and they disappeared under the fringe of his hair. The two of them just stared at each other for a minute. Adam turned and looked back out to the street. Ronan couldn’t help but stare at the strong profile of his face, the Greek nose shape prominent. It makes him look like a fucking marble statue from Ancient Greece. 

“You can probably put the puzzle together.” 

Ronan could figure it out. An idiot could figure that out after Adam’s outburst. He just nodded. 

“Daddy issues got the best of you?” he said with a bite. 

Adam picked up on it and glared with a fire sparked that had come back. He scowled at Ronan. 

“Well, hate to break it to you Parrish, but you’re not special. Whatever the deal with your dad was, ran in the same racetrack as mine, just different horses with different skills of being shitty. Shit happens, but that doesn’t mean you become him. God, if I ever became my dad, I’d set myself on fire first.” 

Adam’s hostility eased from his body and face. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight from foot to foot. 

“Some people just aren’t made to be parents,” he said before walking past Ronan and back inside the loft. 

Ronan stared at the doors for a moment. He wasn’t sure if Adam was referring to himself, of his parents, or maybe both. But Ronan found himself agreeing, but deep in his heart, he knew his parents loved him and his brothers. Ronan had a feeling Adam didn’t get that. 

He took a breath and walked back inside. Everyone was helping set up the dinner that Noah and Gansey seemed to have made. Ronan wasn’t sure how they could’ve made something so fast, but he figured it was popped in the microwave. 

Ronan walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer. He swiftly popped the bottle cap off throwing it in the garbage and taking his seat at the table. Like he’d predicted it was potato skins from TGI Friday’s (but actually the frozen food section of the supermarket), and some Kraft Mac and Cheese, with homemade garlic bread and tossed salad and a myriad of dressings. 

After a minute, everyone trickled back into the area and took their respective seats. Noah even pushed Camilla in when she sat down. Ronan rolled his eyes and took a swig of his beer. He glanced over at Adam, who was seated next to Blue. He leaned into her ear to say something, and she nodded before whispering a response. 

Opal sat down next to Ronan. She seemed to have recovered from the fight earlier. Gansey clapped his hands together and announced to eat. Everyone immediately dug into the food placed in front and stacked it on their plate. Ronan looked over and saw Opal glaring at Camilla from across the table. Ronan found himself wondering why. 

There was a tense silence at the table, as everyone ate. Gansey cleared his throat cordially. “Opal and I learned how to make pasta by hand. And we didn’t even mess anything up,” he said looking at Noah. Noah smiled in return glad that his stuff still worked. Opal was still glaring at Camilla. 

“I don’t like you,” Opal announced bluntly to Camilla. 

The young woman’s green eyes widened in surprise. Gansey looked scandalized at the statement. 

“Seconds, anyone?” he asked trying to ease the conversation along to somewhere more pleasant. 

Ronan hid his smirk behind his beer and glanced at Opal who looked at her with a smirk of her own. Adam was looking down at his phone like his life depended on it. Most of the food on his plate was still abandoned and getting cold. 

“I’m watching you,” Opal bit out. 

Ronan almost felt bad for Noah’s date. Noah’s face was red from embarrassment. Gansey looked even fainter. 

“Dessert anyone?” he asked starting to get up. Camilla stood up at the same time. She gave a smile to Gansey. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it.” 

Gansey seemed to accept it, and smiled and sat back down again. Camilla walked over to the kitchen. Noah looked over at the rest of them and opened his palm towards the brunette. 

“See? She’s nice and  _ mature _ ,” he said. 

“Congrats, Noah. You’re dating someone with basic table manners,” Ronan teased. 

Noah flushed bright red again and glared at Ronan who just laughed in response. Gansey still didn’t like the idea of bringing a date to the loft, but of course didn’t say anything. Blue was staring at Camilla with a strange intensity. 

“Opal, why don’t you help Camilla bring the dessert?” Gansey suggested. 

“No, I hate her.” She then crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. 

“You can’t hate her, you don’t know her,” Gansey countered. 

Blue’s eyes narrowed even more. Opal huffed. “Yes, I do. She used to ride on my school bus.” 

Noah choked on the wine he was drinking. Ronan felt his eyebrows shoot up on his face, and a laugh on his lips. Gansey looked the most shocked he’d seen him in years. Adam was still too focused on his lap. 

“What? That can’t possibly be right,” Noah denied. 

“No it’s true,” Opal insisted. 

Camilla came back to the table and pointed at Opal. Recognition dawned on her face and she smiled. 

“That makes so much sense! No wonder you looked so familiar. You were that crazy kindergartener.” 

“Oh my God. This is too good,” Ronan said laughing. 

Noah turned to Camilla. “When was the last time you were on a school bus?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “Last year.” 

Ronan felt ecstatic over this turn of events. He leaned across the table with a grin stretched across his face. “How old are you?” 

Camilla’s smile dropped a little, and she seemed confused by the question. “Eighteen.” 

“Oh my fucking God,” Ronan howled leaning back in his chair. He was laughing so hard his abdomen hurt. 

When he composed himself, he saw Noah cringing and he was so red. Adam and Gansey both had the same face of shock. Both their jaws were hanging open and eyes wide. Blue was still looking, and he saw recognition cross her face. 

“I know you! Adam,” she patted his shoulder, “that was the girl who I babysat my freshman year of college. Remember I had to bring her to a protest so I could get credit for my class?” 

Adam nodded his head. “Oh yeah. You also showed up high to babysit her because we’d smoked before hand because you’d forgotten that you had to babysit that day.” 

Camilla’s eyes brightened. “That’s right! I knew you looked familiar, Blue!” 

Noah let out a loud groan and banged his head against the table. He was muttering in Czech to himself now. It effectively killed the mood.

* * *

Noah had broken up with Camilla immediately. Now, Ronan, him and Gansey were all sitting at the island in the kitchen, trying to process the events of today. Blue and Adam had gone off somewhere again.

“Eighteen. She was fucking eighteen,” Noah muttered to himself. 

“She doesn’t even remember what it was like to live under the Second Bush Administration,” Gansey commented. 

“I was fucking a guy who ended up fucking a woman to get her pregnant,” Ronan said. He took another swig from his second beer. “Jesus Christ.” 

“All our lives seem to be in a rut, don’t they?” Gansey said. 

Ronan scoffed and looked over at his best friend. “The fuck is wrong with you Mr. President?” 

“I have come to a standstill on my thesis paper for my Ph.D.” 

Noah rolled his eyes. “That seems significantly less bad than our romance problems, Gansey.” 

“That and of course, I have feelings for someone who doesn’t reciprocate. So it seems all our love lives are sucky.” 

Ronan and Noah turned their heads quickly to Gansey. That was the first he’d heard anything of the kind. 

“What have you been hiding?” Noah questioned. 

Gansey sighed like the weight was on his shoulders. He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. 

“It’s Sargent isn’t it?” Ronan guessed. 

Gansey looked surprised that Ronan knew. “How did you know that?” 

Ronan scoffed. “Please, like you’re subtle. I see those longing looks and the way you’d bend over backward to do anything she wanted. You might as well have heart eyes pasted over your eyelids.” 

His eyebrows scrunched together. “Then how did I not know about you and Adam? You aren’t exactly subtle about your actions about anything, Lynch.” 

Ronan shrugged. “Because we met at his apartment, and in the middle of the night. You’re too engrossed in your books to ever notice anything, and Noah over here is asleep by at least ten on any given day.” 

Opal came in at that moment. All three of them turned their attention to the little girl. She was covered in bras. Gansey’s phone started to vibrate suddenly and he looked down at it. He stood up suddenly. 

“Oh, Marjorie and Desireé are coming up now! Be back! And get those bras off her!” 

He all but ran out of the loft. Ronan had no experience with bras. He grew up with three brothers and was gay. He had no interest in them and how they worked. 

“Opal, how did this happen?” Ronan asked as he kneeled down to her level. 

She shrugged her shoulders, a blush forming on her cheeks. Noah joined him and gave a chuckle. 

“I went into Blue’s room, and I saw one of these. But I can’t figure out how to take them off.” 

Noah and Ronan started to unlatch the bras on her body. The door opened up and Ronan heard Gansey sweet talking the two women. They turned a corner and stopped to see the spectacle. 

“Why are there two men touching her like that?” a tall woman with tight curly hair asked. She was holding hands with a woman who looked East Asian. Gansey blanched at the sight. 

“Oh, they were just trying to help her out of a situation. These are my roommates Ronan and Noah,” he said as damage control. 

“A man like you lives with other people?” the tall woman asked. 

“The company is appreciated, Marjorie. As you know, we historians tend to get stuck in our own heads sometimes, they bring me out when I get in.”

The pounding of footsteps was heard from the bedroom. Adam was carrying Blue in a crushing hug as he came into the foyer. 

“There is a God! Scarlett got her period today!” He exclaimed, spinning Blue around. She was laughing. 

That was the most emotion Ronan had ever seen Adam exhibit. It really has been a roller coaster of a day. He dropped Blue and ran over to Noah and Ronan and hugged the two of them as well. 

“I’m not going to be a father!” 

Ronan elbowed Adam in the side. “Parrish, we have company.” 

He turned around to face the newcomers. His eyes widened and he cleared his throat awkwardly and waved. He stepped back to Blue. 

“Welcome to our home, would you like a drink?” Gansey offered.

“No thank you. Opal, C'mon,” Marjorie said. 

Blue swooped in to unhook the last bra and gathered them all in her arms. Opal hugged all of them tightly. She saved Ronan for last. She leaned into his ear. 

“You were so cool today,” she whispered. 

A strange feeling of warmth spread in his chest. He released her and ruffled her hair. “You weren’t so bad yourself, brat,” he said fondly. He winked at her. 

Opal then ran to her mothers and grabbed their hands. “How was your day today?” 

She then started to go on and on about everything that happened. She even omitted the details about the fight. Marjorie and Desireé seemed pleased at the happiness. They turned to Gansey and shook hands. 

“Maybe we’ll bring her here next time we’re out of town.” 

“The door is always open,” Gansey said with a polite smile. 

The two women nodded at the rest of them and walked out of the loft. It was silent for a few moments after. 

“So that wasn’t so bad,” Gansey concluded. 

“Agree to disagree,” Noah countered. “I’m going to bed, I’m exhausted.” 

He walked down the hall and into his room. Ronan glanced at the stove clock. It read: 9:50 PM. Ronan smirked. 

“Me too. Kids are a lot of work. This is why I teach young adults at college,” Gansey said walking into his room. Blue left to go put her bras away. Leaving just Adam and Ronan. 

The two of them sat down across each other on the table. 

“So you’re not going to be a father,” Ronan stated just to say something. 

“Yup. I was thinking we can go on that date now” Adam suggested. 

Ronan still felt burned from the fight earlier. He ran a hand over his scalp. “Maybe we just do what we were doing before.” 

Adam looked confused. “You take your words from before back then?” he sounded a little hurt. 

“Yeah.” 

He looked down at his lap. Then he gently nodded his head. “Okay.” He stood up from the table. “I should go home now. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow. See you.” 

“See you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. Thanks everyone!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain family member makes a surprise visit to L.A. Tensions are high.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while since this story updated. But school is now in full swing, and I am officially in reading and research hell for my history major. Gansey knows my struggle. 
> 
> But I have an update for you! And since this is an au, a certain character who is dead in canon, is now alive. I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> This is wasn't beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

The four roommates were sitting around the dining room table together. Spread out on the table was an array of things. Ronan sat across from the other three, with a black blindfold covering his eyes. And in front of him was a ceramic mug, and he had a hand inside. 

Noah leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together to form a fist. His gray eyes were narrowed in concentration. 

“Okay, Ronan. Tell us what is in the mug.” 

Ronan huffed, his nostrils flaring. His hands were moving around in the small cup, feeling the objects inside. Blue was hiding her laughter behind her hands, an amused look on her face. Gansey looked as if this was some part of a sociological experiment, he was observing and conducting. 

“The fuck did you put in here, this is stupid,” Ronan growled. He let out another huff through his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. 

“A mini carrot,” he declared. 

The three of them burst out into laughter at the answer. Ronan bared his teeth at them in hostility. 

“It’s some kind of vegetable. Potato? I swear to God, just because I’m Irish, Czerny you’re dead,” he bit out. A bit of his Irish brogue slipped through at the end. 

“Ronan for all your intelligence, you are so dumb,” Noah laughed out leaning back in his chair. “How are you so bad at Feel Cup?” 

“You really are the worst at this game, Ronan,” Gansey commented. “Even worse than Henry was.” 

“God, I hate this. Tomato?” Ronan kept asking. 

Gansey leaned over to Blue, an amused look in his eyes. “If his life depended on this, he would literally  _ die _ .”

Blue just nodded her head in agreement. “Ronan, tomatoes aren’t that squishy.” 

Knocking was heard from the front door, and Noah stood up to go get it. Gansey leaned forward towards Ronan who looked pissed but still trying to figure it out. 

“Are you going to request bonus time?” Gansey asked. 

“He can’t, he has no more quarters to give,”Blue responded. She gestured towards the giant pile of quarters on the table. 

Noah came back into view. He looked visibly surprised. His gray eyes were widened and he was jumpy. He ran a hand through his white hair and put his hands on his hips. 

“Uh, Ronan. Your dad’s at the door,” he said. 

“Very funny, asshole, but I’m still not going to give up on this,” Ronan spoke with determination. 

Gansey stood up suddenly, his eyes wide in shock. From around the corner, a tall man that looked exactly like Ronan with dark hair and older walked in. Gansey and Noah shared a horrified look together. Blue didn’t understand what was going on. 

He opened his arms wide. “Ronan, boy.” His voice was deep and held a thick Irish brogue. 

Ronan jumped up from his seat immediately and ripped the blindfold off his face with the most aggression Blue had seen. Ronan seemed to have a vicious glare as he turned around towards his father. 

Ronan stood still, bristling like a wild animal as his father came in for a giant hug. Ronan did not reciprocate. Gansey looked painfully uncomfortable at the scene unfolding, but still had a smile plastered on his face. Noah was still jumpy from his spot. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Lynch,” Blue said finally.She cleared her throat. “Uh, welcome to our home.” 

She hadn’t heard much about the man himself. Only some stories from childhood that Gansey offered up. Ronan never talked about him, and she had been convinced for a long time that the man was dead. 

Ronan’s dad eyed the table after he released Ronan from the hug. His eyebrows rose and he looked at Noah who had walked back over next to Blue. A smile came across his face as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. 

“Playing Feel Cup, I see?” he asked Noah. Noah smiled and lifted the mug up towards the older man. 

“Watch this,” Noah said. 

Ronan’s dad closed his eyes and his hand dove into the mug in a dramatic fashion. Blue observed Ronan rolling his eyes from behind. The items jostled around inside. 

“Tampon,” he declared, “wrapped in duct tape.” 

Blue’s eyebrows shot up on her face, and Noah just nodded to her with a smirk. Ronan glared at the three of them. 

“Is that what it is?” Ronan muttered, as his father opened his eyes and took the item out of the cup to show everyone. 

“And that is how it is done!” Noah exclaimed. 

Blue nodded her head impressed by the scene. Ronan stalked into the kitchen and roughly grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down in his seat sulking and taking a giant swig. 

* * *

Ronan couldn’t believe his father was right in front of him in the flesh. It had been years since he’d seen the man in person. When he was younger Ronan had admired him, worshiped him as much as he did to God. He thought the man could do no wrong. It was also the topic of many arguments and fights he had with Declan over the years.

But then he wised up after his father was almost killed when he was sixteen. He discovered that his father was nothing but a crook, and a liar. And Ronan began to resent him, for never being home, for lying about where he went and what he did whether it was for business or  _ not _ . When he graduated high school, albeit just barely, he moved far away from his family just to put degrees of separation from himself and his father.

It bothered him though that deep down, a part of him still wanted to impress his father. No matter the animosity and resentment he had in him. Ronan stalked into his room and threw the sheets towards the edge to make it seem neater. 

“What brings you out to L.A.?” Ronan gruffly asked throwing other shit into miscellaneous drawers. He roughly closed all his notebooks with story ideas so his father wouldn’t see them. 

He turned towards his father, who had stuck his hands into the artfully worn jean pants. He was wearing a leather jacket that Ronan remembered from his childhood. He shrugged his shoulders. 

“I was just in the neighborhood for some art deals-” he started. 

Ronan scoffed and crossed his arms. His father eyed him with arched eyebrows but didn’t comment. “And thought I’d stay with you. Much cheaper than staying at a hotel.”

“You have plenty of money to spare,” Ronan spat. 

Once again Niall Lynch didn’t comment on his middle son’s animosity. “It would be nice to spend time with my favorite son.” 

The two of them stared at each other for a minute. Ronan felt his jaw tightening and twitching. He lifted the beer up and took a sip. “Whatever. Stay in here.” 

Ronan walked out of his room and back into the kitchen where the rest of his roommates were. Ronan sat down next to Blue. 

“What does your dad do? Noah and Gansey are arguing over what it is,” Blue said looking directly at him.

Ronan rolled his eyes. “He’s a con-man,” Gansey insisted. 

“Art dealer,” Noah said. 

“God, he’s both. But more on the side of conning people. I don’t understand why you like him so much, Noah,” Ronan said. 

“Dude that Irish brogue. The guy could sweet talk a bear and make it out alive,” Noah complimented. 

Ronan let out a growl and stood up. He yanked open the cabinet that was filled with all the tools and contraptions created to fix things. He grabbed a wrench and went under the sink. He heard Gansey and Noah sigh. 

“Ronan, don’t angry fix the sink,” Gansey said to try and quell the anger inside of Ronan. 

“I’m just fixing it,” he gritted out. “Better than before, so don’t complain.” 

That quickly shut Gansey up because he was right. When he was in high school and even college, Ronan’s outlet for his anger was drag racing his cars on the interstate, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and setting things on fire with Kavinsky. 

He banged the wrench against the pipes of the sink. His whole body felt like it was on fire. Ronan itched to go back to those horrible ways, but he resisted. He wouldn’t let his father undo everything he’s built up just by showing his face. 

“Here’s the reason I have so much fucking anger. And why I don’t fucking trust anyone,” he growled banging harder on the pipes every time. 

“Let’s go to Nino’s,” Gansey suggested. He stood up and grabbed the keys to the Pig swinging them around his finger. 

Noah stood up too. “Good idea.”

* * *

Nino’s was this shady restaurant and bar that was in walking distance from the loft. It was also where Ronan worked as a bartender. So he was not happy that they dragged his father to his place of work and crammed them all into a little circular booth that could barely fit all of them. 

Ronan crossed his arms and stubbornly ordered a water for himself. His father ordered a glass of Guinness to keep up his faux Irish facade; Ronan knew his father was really from England but liked the aesthetic of being from Belfast instead. 

Niall was going on about some story from Ronan’s childhood, weaving the details and humor like the master storyteller he was. There were many similarities between Ronan and his father, but kissing up to people was not one of them. That was the sphere of influence that Niall had bestowed upon Declan instead. 

“Ronan came barging in, mind you, he had a full head of hair back then,” Niall looked pointedly at Ronan’s shaved head. He always hated this look, always told him he looked more like the thugs people hired when they were dealing. Ronan didn’t give a shit and really did it out of spite. 

Ronan glanced and saw all his friends were smitten and entranced by Niall. Even Gansey who knew better, couldn’t help but be amused at Ronan’s father. Niall could charm the pants off a witch if he had to. 

Niall let out a laugh, before finishing the sentence. “So, Ronan came barging in, and he was shouting ‘Da! Da! I need help! I have a tick on the tip of my of my-” he imitated in a high-pitched voice. 

Ronan knew immediately where this story went, and he slammed both palms on the table and sneered at his father. “This is not a story to tell everyone, Jesus fucking Christ.” 

Niall stopped short, and instead of continuing on like Ronan expected him to, he just leaned back, took a sip, and sighed. He opened his palm up towards Ronan. He glanced at the three of them. 

“How do you deal with him? He’s used to not be this irritable, you know.” 

Noah leaned over Gansey and took Ronan’s hand, and patted it gently twice. Ronan glared and yanked it away roughly. Noah looked over at Niall. 

“We try our best. But the best thing to do is to leave him alone really.” 

“Ronan, with that attitude you’re never going to find someone, you know,” Niall said in a suggesting tone. 

Ronan had already heard this a million times. Declan and Ashley are going to be married soon. They’ve been together for a long time. Even Matthew has a girlfriend, Renee, and they've been together longer than Ronan has with anyone. 

Ronan rolled his eyes and he felt a barb on the tip of his tongue. Blue, of all people, then opened her stupid mouth before Ronan got the chance. She leaned her elbow on the table and took a sip of her cranberry and vodka. Ronan blamed the alcohol on her slippery mouth. 

“Your son actually was seeing my best friend for awhile,” she said. 

Niall’s eyebrows raised on his head and a smirk formed over his mouth. He seemed interesting in the new gossip Ronan specifically kept away from his family. Ronan issued a glare over the table to Blue. 

“Oh is that right? Will I be able to meet him soon? What’s his name?” 

“His name’s Adam,” Noah said. 

Niall slapped his palm on the table jovially. “Ah, a fine Bible name if I heard one. The original man of God.” 

“But probably not, he and Ronan had a falling out a few months ago. They don’t see much of each other anymore, except when forced to due to their mutual friendships,” Gansey supplied.  

Niall looked saddened at the idea. Ronan was glad that he wouldn’t meet Adam. He didn’t think he’d like his father all too much. He passed a glance over at Ronan, which Ronan glared back. He didn’t need his father to judge him more than he already has. He had enough of that shit through high school and college. He was a fucking adult who made his own fucking choices. 

“Well, I say it’s time for another drink. On me lads,” he turned to Blue with a smile. “And lass, would you like to come help me out?” 

Ronan rolled his eyes and scoffed. When Blue agreed, Ronan almost couldn’t believe it. His father had even managed to charm the raging feminist Blue Sargent. Un-fucking-believable. His father got up and walked away. 

“There’s a lot of charm coming from your dad, Ronan. Maybe you should take a lesson from him or something instead of intimidating every person you meet.” 

“That’s what he does for a living Maggot. He charms people and then steals and scams his way out of trouble,” Ronan retorted. “You think I’m a snake? He’s a fucking constrictor compared to me. He might as well be Kaa.” 

Blue raised her eyebrows in an amused way. “Did you just make a reference to the  _ Jungle Book _ , Ronan Lynch?”

“That’s not the point,” he growled. Ronan felt his face grow warm with embarrassment and hoped the shitty lighting hid it well enough. 

Blue scoffed and flapped her hand. “Whatever. I think you two need to hash out some shit between y’all.”

“Yeah, Blue let me just share all my feelings with him. Have you even lived in the loft, or was it just my imagination the entire fucking time?”

Blue looked miffed at his sarcasm, but Ronan wasn’t finished. “Once I empty out all of them, maybe even have a cry on his shoulder, everything will be fucking dandy. Because that’s the way the world works, doesn’t it?” 

Blue pointed a finger, and Ronan could tell she was tipsy and verging on the precipice of drunk. “I would be the first to deny that, but I think if you do talk, that constipated face you always have filled with anger will rest finally  _ Little Seal _ .” 

“Do not call me that. God damn it.” 

Blue let out a joyful laugh before getting up and following Ronan’s father where he was at the bar. 

A few minutes later, Blue came back and in tow was Adam. Ronan had to bite back a groan of annoyance. Even after four months, Ronan was still stupidly attracted to him. He had a white t-shirt and a red and black flannel over it, with scuffed sneakers and worn out jeans with holes. Even the sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, which drove a jolt through Ronan that he did not want to deal with ever. 

“Look who actually came by!” Blue exclaimed. 

Everyone looked happy to see Adam, and they all greeted him with various handshakes and fist bumps. He cooly acknowledged Ronan with a head nod and a brief smile. He scooched in next to Noah, and Blue followed. 

“Yeah I made it,” he sighed with a roll of his eyes. But Ronan was smiling. 

“Blue, where’s Niall?” Gansey asked. 

Adam looked up from his phone, his eyebrows pinched together. He glanced over at Noah. 

“Who’s Niall?” he whispered. 

“My asshole father,” Ronan answered, startling Adam. He didn’t think Ronan heard, he gave a shark grin at Adam. 

“Oh, cool,” he said before looking back down at the glowing screen of his phone, typing away and smirking. Ronan’s interest and jealousy spiked. 

“Who’re you talking to that’s obviously way more interesting than the company of your  _ friends _ ?” Ronan sneered. 

Blue reached over and pushed Ronan’s shoulders roughly. Ronan grunted; he hated how strong she really was, even drunk. 

“Don’t be a fucking asshole.” 

“Sorry, it’s not in my programming not to be.” 

Adam glanced up and glared at Ronan, which is the exact reaction he wanted from Adam. He closed his screen and put in in his pocket. 

“Is there alcohol in there?” he asked Blue pointing to her cocktail. He observed her and sniffed the drink and grimaced before putting it back down again. 

“Because you’re so interested, it’s this girl who I knew from childhood. Her mother and mine are best friends, so she gave her mother my number.” 

“Thought you didn’t speak to you ‘rents, Parrish?” Ronan asked. There was still so much he didn’t know about Adam. 

Adam did not look pleased to be having this conversation. “It’s my father I don’t speak to. I occasionally send a letter to my mom, asshole. And I’m not going to speak any more of this.” 

“Is she just as much of as hick as you? I bet her name is Debby Ann, or Annabelle, something southern like that.” 

Ronan could see the flush that was rising on Adam’s cheeks. The tension raised tenfold around the small table. Gansey was looked worried about the upcoming fight, and so did Noah. Adam ran a hand through his hair and tugged at the roots. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, please be more of a bigot. Her name is Lorraine. Just because you come from some ritzy family who made it big with dealing,  _ antiquities _ ,” he mocked, “doesn’t mean anything. You work as a fucking  _ bartender _ here. At least I’m putting my master's degree to something. I don’t even know if you graduated college or not.” 

“He actually did, he was going to become a veterinarian. I still don’t know why you didn’t pull through. You would’ve been the best in L.A.,” Gansey commented. 

Ronan chose not to comment. And that was also the moment Niall decided to make his appearance. He placed all the drinks down on the table and sat back inside the booth. He glanced at all of them, sensing the tension. And then he noticed Adam. 

“Oh, I see we have a friend who joined us. Who are you?” 

Adam looked over at Niall, and his eyes widened a fraction. Then he put on a winning smile and shook his hand firmly. Niall placed his other hand over Adam’s. 

“I’m Adam, you must Mr. Lynch.” 

“Oh please. Call me Niall. I’ve heard a lot about you, Adam.”

His smile faltered and he took his hand away. Adam pulled out his phone and then motioned to scooch out. 

“I’m afraid I have to go. Long day of meetings I need to prepare for tomorrow. Nice to see y’all again.”

Once Adam was out of hearing range, Niall turned back towards the group. He took a sip of his newly replenished Guinness. 

“He had a bit of a twang to him. Not what I expected from you Ronan,” he teased. 

“Expect the unexpected I guess,” Ronan muttered. 

Niall nodded his head, and then he clapped his hands. Ronan knew that he was about to embark on another story.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked Niall's debut. There isn't much to go by in canon, but I figured he's kind of like my Irish relatives. Loud, fanciful storytellers, and always filled with energy and drinking Guinness (and that isn't just a stereotype lol). 
> 
> Ronan is also older, so he's wised up to his father's antics and business, and so there's some tension lying beneath there. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. Thanks, everyone!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall charms and rips off Blue. Ronan is not happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been forever since I posted a new chapter. But I've kinda been in a slump with this, and new ideas for fics came easier to write first. But here's the new chapter! Niall's a dick in this, and I feel like Blue is a little ooc in this arc, but I'm really trying not to make her that way. :/ 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. This is not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

It’s just been over a day since Niall came storming back into Ronan’s life, and it felt like an eternity. All of his friends seemed to have fallen right into the trap that was Niall’s charm, and it drove Ronan up a wall. Even Gansey seemed enraptured, and he’s the one who should know better, having been around the Lynch family the longest. 

But he had somehow corralled all of them to going to the racetrack to go betting on horses. If there was one thing Niall Lynch liked to do, it was gambling; whether doing it with money, or antiquities he managed to get his hands on, or his fucking life. Gambling was Niall’s Achilles heel, much like alcohol was Ronan’s. 

They were all sitting in the stands watching mustangs run the three-quarters of a mile. It was the middle of the day, and the only other people who were there were old men who had nothing better to do with their retirement time. It was miserable, and he made sure to sit far away from Niall. Blue had drawn the short straw and sat next to him, not that she seemed to mind all too much. They were laughing and joking with one another, and it made Ronan sick. 

Niall leaned back in his chair and looked over to where Ronan and Noah were. Gansey had been called to a symposium for the day, and regretfully couldn’t come along. Ronan thought he was lucky. He wishes he had an excuse to not be here. 

“You know when I first moved to America, I was totally enraptured by everything. Back in Ireland, the closest thing we had to bet on anything was who was going to beat the shit out each other more during the Munster Derbies. But I’ve never seen gambling like on this level. It was unbelievable.” 

Noah let out a laugh like it was the greatest thing he’d ever heard. Ronan just rolled his eyes; if he’s heard a story once, he’s heard it a million times. Niall has a small repertoire of stories he tells to different people, and Ronan and his brothers are the ones who have to deal with hearing them over and over again. 

“Ronan used to come along with me to the tracks. I had tried to get Declan, Ronan’s older brother,” Niall clarified for Blue in case she didn’t know (she did), “but he’s always had a chip on his shoulder about everything. But Ronan was always willing to come along. Of course, there is always some mild trouble that could happen, but whenever I got in a sticky spot, Ronan used his charm to get his old man out.” 

Blue’s mouth dropped open and her eyebrows shot up. She scoffed at Niall. “Ronan had charm?” 

Niall let out a guffaw of laughter, and his head snapped back as he was laughing. “Oh, God yes. He wasn’t always this gruff and thug-like. He used to do this thing called the Sugar Ray-” 

“Do not fucking mention that,” Ronan bit out cutting his father off. He was fucking sick of him mouthing off various different things about him that he’d rather not get out. He didn’t like to remember the things he schemed with his father. 

“What exactly is the ‘Sugar Ray’?” Blue asked. 

Niall looked over at Ronan and gestured with his hand towards him. Ronan crossed his arms and glared. “I’m not going to fucking say anything about it.” 

“Oh c’mon, Ronan. It’s not that big of a deal,” Niall urged. 

“Yes, it is a big of a deal. I don’t like talking about all the stupid shit you got me into.” 

“Ronan,” Niall said. He hated the way his father was able to say his name and have it mean more than just the name. He hated that his father still had some semblance of a grip on him, even after trying to get far away. Ronan gritted his teeth together. 

“God damnit,” he gritted out. He glared at Blue and Niall, hopefully getting the message of  _ I hope you’re fucking happy _ . “It’s this thing I used to do, where I’d pretend I was a diabetic kid, so the guy who was about to beat him, would run away and forget the whole thing. Should’ve let them beat you.” 

“You don’t mean that Ronan,” Niall swiftly chided and moved on. He adjusted in his seat and pulled out his wallet. “Let’s make a bet.” He took out some dollar bills and handed them to Ronan. 

Ronan glared at the twenties in Niall’s hands. “What’s the catch?” he asked. 

Niall tilted his head to the side and pulled on his innocence face. He had an easy-going smile and his blue eyes which mirrored Ronan’s were twinkling. 

“What catch?” he asked back. 

Ronan pursed his lips and glared more at Niall. He leaned forward over Blue towards him. He pushed his father’s hand away. “There’s always a catch with you.” 

Niall gave Ronan the classic Dad look. He put his hand with the twenties back to Ronan. “There’s no catch. I just want you to place a bet. On me.” 

There was a tense silence for a moment before Ronan roughly grabbed the money out of his father’s palm. He stood up and looked down at the man. “You want me to lose your money? I’ll be more than happy to do so.” 

He walked out of the stands and to the box office where he quickly glanced at the horses that were going to race next. He slammed the money on the table and slid it underneath to the person working behind the glass screen. The man looked startled, but Ronan didn’t care. “Give me Costanza, Another Round, and Rome’s Fire, for Win, Place, Show.” 

The ticket counter guy sighed and typed some things in on his computer before printing the tickets and handing them over to Ronan. He swiped them and made his way back to the stands. When he reached the row, he saw that his father was leaning in close to Blue, telling him something. 

“The fuck are you two talking about?” he asked as he shoved his way back into his seat and all but threw the tickets at his father. 

“Nothing you need to worry yourself with,” Niall dismissed. He stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “Thanks for the tickets, son. But I’m going to piss before the next race.” 

Blue stood up as well. “Me too. I’ve been holding it in for a while. Ladies bathroom lines are always out the door.” 

Ronan watched with narrowed eyes. He didn’t like what he was seeing. He turned to his father. 

“Whatever the fuck it is you’re doing, don’t do it,” he warned. 

Niall shoved the tickets into the pocket of his leather jacket. He ran a hand through his salt and pepper curls and rolled his eyes. “Jesus, Mary, Ronan. Not everything I do is bad you know. I don’t know what the fuck has jaded you so much.” 

“God, I don’t know. Maybe finding you almost bludgeoned to death in our driveway at sixteen after you got on someone's bad side with your shady shit you do? That tends to put things in perspective,” Ronan snarled.

Niall scoffed. “I don’t know where I went wrong with you and Declan. I preferred when you beat the shite out of each other instead of teaming up.” 

Ronan threw his hands up in the air. “Sorry for giving a little bit of a fuck about the family. You can find your shit on the street when you get back to  _ my _ apartment.” 

Ronan got up and pushed passed Blue and Niall. “Ronan, wait up! Don’t leave me here!” Noah said as he ran up behind him. The two of them left the racetrack together. 

“Well that was something,” Noah commented as they made their way to the parking lot. 

Ronan fished out his set of keys and was hitting the unlock button rapidly, so he’d be able to locate the BMW in the vast sea of other cars. “Tell me about it,” he muttered. 

It was silent between the two of them for a few moments. But for once Ronan just wanted to fucking rant to someone. 

“You know there are people in life you know that are unpredictable, and you want them to stay like that, right?” Ronan started. Noah didn’t say anything but he shrugged his shoulders like he understood what he was saying. 

“Like your drug dealer, or former VP Joe Biden.” 

Noah let out a laugh. “Joe Biden? What?” 

Ronan glared. “Shut up, Noah. You get my point. So there are the people you don’t want to be unpredictable. Like your doctor, or your fucking father.” 

“Hey man. At least we have fathers. I don’t know much about Blue or Adam, but from what I’ve gathered their fathers were absent or just straight up a horrible person.” 

“My father is pretty horrible,” he countered. 

Noah shook his head. “Dude, at least he still gives a fuck. You heard Adam last night. He doesn’t even have contact with his anymore. I don’t know a lot about the whole situation, and that’s not my right to know, but I think he wins the game of having the worst father. I bet he would’ve liked to have someone like your dad instead.” 

Ronan let out a sigh. “I fucking hate it when you’re right.” 

They walked up to the BMW, and Noah opened up the passenger side and slipped in. He buckled his seatbelt and turned to Ronan. 

“I mean sure, Niall may owe me some money from that bet last time he came into town. But it’s not a big deal,” Noah said offhandedly. 

Ronan was about to pull out of the parking spot when he slammed on the brakes and whipped towards Noah. “What? He owes you money? What the fuck, how much?” he demanded. 

“I don’t know, three hundred, four hundred bucks? It doesn’t matter. We’re both fucking rich. That’s not a whole lot of money.” 

Ronan felt realization hit him. And he felt like a fucking idiot for not thinking twice about it. “Jesus fucking Christ. He’s with Blue. He’s going to rip her off.” 

There was a pause as anger built inside of him. “That fucking bastard!” he bellowed in rage and he pulled into the parking space again and stormed out of the car back towards the tracks.

 

* * *

 

Blue had learned a lot about Ronan from his father. She couldn’t believe the boy he described was the same Ronan she knew and lived with. A boy who smiled like the sun shone down just for him. Or that he was carefree and would run around their family property for hours every day. A boy who was soft and would help take care of the baby animals they had on their farm. She just couldn’t imagine, Ronan, the man who carried himself like he had a vendetta against the world could be like that at one time.

She had followed Ronan’s father towards where they kept horses. He had told her about how Ronan had always wanted to have a horse of his own when he was a kid. They had the money for it, but the property wasn’t large enough to hold horses to graze. Not with the cows and sheep they owned as well as a myriad of other animals. But he had wanted to get a gift for Ronan as a token of peace between the two of them. Something they could own together. Blue thought it was sweet; she wished her father had ever bothered to show up and give a shit about her that way. But that was a can of worms she was not going to open up for herself. 

Niall pulled her in close to him. He looked down at her, his blue eyes staring down at her. It was the most serious he looked since she’d met him. 

“Okay, Blue. I’m going to need you to just follow my lead. When we get to the horse, pretend you know what you’re talking about. You are a veterinarian school student.” 

Blue felt her eyes widen and her eyebrows shoot up. “What? Are you insane? I told you, I know next to nothing about horses. I’ve barely even seen one in person before!” she hushedly exclaimed.

He put his hands on both of her shoulders. “Blue, calm down. I’ll do a majority of the talking. Just pretend, okay?” 

There was a moment of silence before she yanked her shoulders out of Niall’s grip. She leveled a look at her. “God damnit, okay. This better fucking work.” 

Niall winked. “Don’t worry about it.” 

He walked up to some people who looked hoity-toity in their equestrian get up. It was the kind of people Blue assumed Gansey’s family was like. She watched him shake hands with them, and crack a joke that made all of them laugh. They all walked over to the beautiful pinto horse. Niall discreetly flagged her to go over to the horse. He seemed calm enough and she carefully put her palm out to let him sniff. After a moment the horse seemed to deem her okay and she was able to pet his snout softly. Blue let out a smile. She quickly did a scan, pretending to analyze for any issues. She gave a tight smile to the rich people. 

“Very friendly,” she almost muttered, not sure what she was talking about. 

Niall wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “This is Blue, my niece. She’s going to school to be a vet. We’re very proud,” he boasted. If Blue didn’t know he was lying, she’d think he was telling the truth. 

“What do you think of the horse?” he asked. 

Blue’s mind blanked for a moment. “Uh, terrible. A terrible horse. She’s very-” she started with the fake confidence. 

“He,” Niall emphasized, correcting Blue’s assumption. She felt her face heat up as she continued to stutter her way through. “He, right, uh, looks very sickly, unfortunately. Should’ve brought my stethoscope. Lots of split ends in the mane. And the cut doesn’t flatter his face at all. Nope,” she said shaking her head. She could see the equestrians giving her a look like she grew another head in the span of a minute. She didn’t blame them. 

“So, what you’re saying, is that this horse will never race again?” Niall prompted. Blue was petting the pinto and turned to face him. She pointed at the horse. 

“Damn it, Uncle Niall, this horse will never race again!” She exclaimed. “Why did you fly me out all the way from Virginia if you weren’t going to listen?” She had no idea what she was saying. But patrons that were observing the horse got turned off by the sight and walked away leaving the two of them alone. 

Blue put her hands on her waist, looking around. “Uh, did it work?” she asked. 

Niall smiled, and that was the answer she needed. She let out a sigh of relief. She was a horrible liar. Blue had no idea how it came so easy for Niall. 

“Let me handle the paperwork for this magnificent horse, okay?” he said. Blue let him handle the rest of the deal. 

She saw him walk over to some guy who looked official. They were talking for at least ten minutes, negotiating back and forth. She stayed by the pinto and was gently rubbing his snout and neck gently. 

“You really are magnificent,” she whispered to the horse. The horse just snorted in response which made Blue laugh. 

She saw Niall shake hands with the man and he had a manila folder in his hand. He held it up victoriously as he made his way back to Blue. It was then that she saw Ronan storm into the stables with Noah in tow who looked worried. Ronan was red in the face, and she could see the veins popping in his head. He marched right up to Niall and pointed a finger in his face. 

“Dad! What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. 

Niall and Blue shared a look and Blue took a step forward. “Blue, I’d rather keep it a surprise.” 

“No fucking surprises. What did you two do?” he looked at Blue this time. She shuffled her feet on the ground and put her hands behind her back. 

“Well, I helped pick out a horse for your father and you to own together. He said you always wanted one for yourself, and he wanted this gift to be a gesture of goodwill between you two.” 

Ronan looked at her like she was insane. “What the fuck are you talking about? I couldn’t give less of a fuck about horses.” 

Now Blue was confused. “What?” 

Ronan snarled his teeth, much like a wolf and turned his attention to Niall. Niall had closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Did you fucking use my friend for a scheme? Oh my God, this a new fucking low, even for you.” 

Niall’s cell phone started to ring, and he used it as his way to get out of the situation for the time being. Ronan didn’t look as angry as he did a moment before when he turned his attention back to Blue. 

“Jesus Christ, Blue. You’re supposed to be the sensible one of all of us,” he sighed. 

Blue felt like a fucking idiot. “God damn your father and his charm. He weaved this whole story about you loving animals on your family farm and all this other shit. I should’ve known it was bullshit. I mean look at you; you’re not one for softness and cute baby animals.” She scoffed at herself. 

Ronan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “He wasn’t making that shit up. It’s fucking true,” he admitted. Blue was dumbfounded. “Please tell me you didn’t give him money, Blue.” It almost sounded like a beg. Her silence was answer enough. 

“Christ, how much did you give the bastard?” 

“Just like a few hundred. And I became an investor.” 

Ronan ran a hand over his scalp and tilted his head back towards the sky. “I fucking hate him.” 

“Drop dead, you cocksucker!” Niall shouted at his phone before dumping into the trashcan. He quickly ran back over and rubbed his hands together. 

“Okay, I already have someone lined up to take this horse off our hands. Horse semen, in high demand in Dubai and the Middle East. Who would’ve thought?” 

“No, you’re not dragging Blue into your fucking shady trade business. Give the horse away like a fucking normal person,” Ronan said putting his foot down. 

Niall then dragged his attention to someone else. “Hey! Dusty, you piece of shit! We’re settling this score right now!” he shouted. Then he ran after someone leaving the three of them behind. 

“Who is that?” Blue wondered. 

“Don’t fucking ask,” Ronan said back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it. I was debating on whether to add more on or stop it here, and it seemed better to cut it off here. Niall is a huge dick, but that's just how the cookie crumbles. He seemed to be like this from what we got in the series itself, I'm just expanding on possibilities. 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are always appreciated and encouraged. Thanks again!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan spies on Adam. Niall and Ronan hash out some bottled up hostilities and feelings. Things get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is my favorite part of the arc tbh. I'm also glad it's over now so I can move on to finding better ones for the story. This was a little heavy, and some feelings and issues are addressed just a little bit. But I really liked writing Niall as a character and fleshing out the little things that were given to us in canon. I did also try to incorporate Adam more, my poor favorite man has been getting the backend of the deal :( 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it! This wasn't beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Ronan practically shoved Niall through his bedroom door, and slammed it behind and locked it. His father merely brushed it off, and took off his leather jacket and sat down on the bed. Ronan had fumed the entire ride back from the racetracks and he was ready to take it out on the man who caused all this trouble in the first place. He leveled a glare at Niall. 

“Five hundred dollars? You stole five hundred dollars from her to buy that stupid fucking horse?” Ronan demanded. 

Niall was looking at the file filled with the papers of ownership. He didn’t seem too interested in the conversation. Ronan rushed forward and grabbed the folder and threw it into the air. Papers went flying across the floor. Niall issued a glare back at Ronan; the only sign that he was getting fed up with Ronan’s behavior. 

“I didn’t steal anything from her. She saw a proper business investment opportunity,” Niall defended. 

Ronan rolled his eyes so hard he thought they’d get stuck. He let out a bark of malicious laughter. “Jesus Christ. Blue doesn’t know anything about business. And you can talk a lion into investing for you. This was the first time she met you, she didn’t know any better and you saw that opportunity and took advantage of her.” 

Niall stood up from the bed and started to pick up the papers scattered around Ronan’s room. When he was finished he straightened up to look Ronan straight in the eyes. 

“Now, Ronan your temper has always been your downfall. Give me at least an hour. I have someone to buy the horse off of me. And then I’ll refund your friend. And since these suckers think this horse is related to the latest Derby winner, they’ll pay extra.” 

“You are so full of bullshit. No wonder Declan is the way he is. He took after you apparently,” Ronan spat. 

Niall gave him a stern look. It was the most fatherly he’d seen Niall in years. “Don’t talk bad about your brother like that.” 

“I’ll say whatever the fuck I want about him.” 

“We are getting off topic here. Your friend will get her money back.” 

Ronan nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Great, we’ll come with you then. I will watch you give Blue her money back myself,” he said calling his father’s bluff. 

He watched with a satisfaction as his father’s face dropped at the mention of Ronan and Blue tagging along. “What, don’t want my help this time around? Thought’d you revel in having this _ father-son bonding time _ ,” he sneered. 

“Ronan that isn’t a good idea.” 

“Why not? I’ll be your wingman,” Ronan countered. 

“You are not a sales guy. You can’t pull the charm off like you did when you were younger. I mean Jesus Mary, look at you,” Niall said gesturing up and down at Ronan. Ronan bristled. 

“What about me?” he threatened. 

“You look like a fucking thug with your tattoos and shaved head and get up,” Niall admitted. 

“Even better. I can intimidate your buyer into giving you the money so you can give Blue her’s back.” 

“Ronan, seriously. You don’t know who these people are,” Niall pleaded. 

Ronan walked up and got in his father’s face. “You created this shitshow, and now you’re going to clean it up.” 

He walked away and swung the door wide open. He stormed past Blue and Noah who were sitting on the couch in the living room together. Blue was quickly typing on her phone to someone. 

“What’s up with her?” Ronan asked Noah. 

“Telling Adam the low down on what happened today,” Noah informed. 

“He’s not fucking answering though. Probably busy trying to woo that hometown chick,” Blue commented. 

That made Ronan stop in his tracks. He turned around trying not to show his eagerness at knowing what Adam was doing. “Where’s he taking her out?” Ronan asked. 

Blue was still looking down at her phone. “California Grill,” she responded absently. 

Ronan raised his eyebrows. He was surprised Adam of all people would choose a fancy outdoor restaurant like that. Without even thinking he stood up and grabbed the keys to the BMW. Both Noah and Blue looked up and their eyes widened at the same time. 

“Ronan, do not do what I think you’re doing,” Blue warned. 

“Ronan! This is a bad idea!” Noah added. 

He was out the door of the loft, effectively silencing their protests. He just wanted some time away from all the shit that was happening today. Ronan drove downtown where he knew the restaurant was. He quickly parallel parked in a spot across the street and intimidated the hostess into letting him in and to sit at a table outside. 

The waiter gave Ronan a weird look, as he put down a glass of water for him. He supposed he looked like a sore thumb. Everyone else was in nice clothing, and with at least one other person. Ronan was in a muscle shirt with holes clawed in the shoulder by Chainsaw, ripped skinny jeans and combat boots. He glared at the waiter to go away and scanned the crowd. 

His eyes caught on Adam on the other side of the area. He was in a corner table, with his back to Ronan. Ronan could see he was in a white dress shirt that clung to all the right places and had black slacks that also clung nicely and nice dress shoes on. His dusty hair was tamed and combed back. And he was sitting across from a black haired woman. Her hair was curled in a way that wasn’t natural, and she was wearing a black dress that had floral designs and went to her ankles and had a plunging neckline. She was tanner than Adam was, and she definitely had curves on her. 

At that moment both of them shared a laugh and clinked their wine glasses together. The woman, Lorraine, Ronan remembered her name, had her glass filled with some kind of white wine, probably the cheapest the restaurant had, but Adam’s was clear with water. Ronan watched as Adam leaned forward. Ronan felt his heart stutter as the thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, he leaned back and stood up placing his napkin on the table. He grabbed Lorraine’s hand and squeezed it. 

As Adam made his way over, Ronan quickly grabbed one of the giant menus to try and hide his face. He heard footsteps stop at the table and a throat clear. Ronan slowly put the menu down and stared at the angry face of Adam Parrish. His blue eyes were piercing and he had his arms crossed over his chest. 

“What the fuck are you doing here, Lynch?” he growled. 

Ronan picked up the menu and held it up towards Adam’s face. He hoped he didn’t look as embarrassed as he felt at that moment. He quirked an eyebrow at the tan man’s face. 

“Looking at the menu. People tend to come to restaurants to eat, Parrish.”  

Adam let out a sharp exhale through his nose, his nostrils flaring. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ronan could see he was trying to keep his anger at bay, especially in public. When he opened them up, he glared at Ronan again and leaned in. Ronan got a whiff of the cologne Adam was wearing and hated himself for loving everything about him. 

“You wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this. I swear to God-” he started. 

“Don’t swear to something you don’t believe in,” Ronan quipped. 

Ronan thought Adam was actually going to punch him in the face, social consequences be damned. “Do not fucking test me Lynch. I swear I am about one step away from committing homicide on you. Stalking me on a date? That’s a new fucking low. How’d you even find out where I was?” 

“Blue let the cat out,” Ronan provided. 

Adam shook his head and glanced over towards his date. Ronan saw that she had a confused look on her face. Adam let a reassuring smile come over his face, showing his perfect teeth, before whipping back around and snarling at Ronan. 

“Whatever. If you aren’t gone by the time I come back, I will do something we both won’t enjoy.” 

“Where you going, cigarette break?” Ronan taunted. He eyed the bulge in his front pant pocket of the box of cigarettes. 

“Don’t put yourself in my business. Don’t you have shit with your father to hash out now?” 

Ronan’s smirk dropped. “How’d you know about that?” he demanded. 

Adam rolled his eyes and waved his phone in Ronan’s face. “Blue’s been text bombing me about how your father pulled a fast one over her. I can see how you’re related now, both assholes apparently.” 

Ronan pointed a finger at Adam. “Don’t you go accusing things you don’t know the first thing about, Parrish.” 

Adam pocketed his phone which vibrated again. He let out a sigh and looked back at Ronan. “I honestly don’t give a shit. But seriously, if you aren’t gone within the next five minutes, I will kill you for potentially ruining my date.” 

Then he walked away and went inside the indoors portion of the restaurant. Ronan spared a quick glance at Lorraine before leaving the restaurant and going back to the loft.

When he got back, he saw Blue and Noah still hadn’t left the couch, but Niall had joined them. They all turned towards Ronan. Blue had a deadly glare issued at him. She looked like a gremlin. 

“How’d stalking Adam go?” she hissed. 

“None of your damn business.” 

“Mmhhmm. Well, Adam called me a few minutes ago, ripping me a new one because I had let it slip where he was so you could stalk him. It wasn’t a very pleasant conversation.” 

Ronan still hadn’t moved from his spot by the front door. Noah nodded with his puppy dog look. 

“It wasn’t even on speaker and I could hear how loud Adam was. He sounded extremely pissed off you almost ruined his date.” 

Ronan threw his hands in the air. “We shouldn’t be fucking talking about this right now. This fucker said he had someone to come. The hours up. Let’s go. Blue you’re coming with us. I’m making sure you get your money back.” 

Then he turned around and didn’t even wait to see if they were following him. 

 

* * *

 

Ronan did not like the look of this place. The sun had set a while ago, and the address his father had given him, Ronan had never heard of. The place was sketchy as fuck, and it was in the middle of nowhere just outside of L.A.

The three of them stood in the open parking lot waiting for Niall’s connection to show up. They had taken Niall’s rental car because he had the horse truck already attached to the back. The only light was the streetlights that occasionally flickered. Niall had the reins of the pinto horse in his hand.

Ronan watched as a black SUV pulled up from around the corner. 

“Of course it’s a fucking black SUV. This is how all shootouts start in films,” Ronan grumbled to himself.

“I can’t believe I got myself into this type of mess,” Blue said.  

He wasn’t comfortable with the potential prospect of lying. It was because of his father that he held that moral code of not lying.The car was put in park and three men got out. They walked towards them; they looked exactly like Ronan would think because of Hollywood. One of them glanced at Ronan who snarled and crossed his arms, and he quickly looked away. Ronan felt a smidge of satisfaction knowing he intimidated them a little. 

Niall glanced over. “This isn’t going to work,” he said between clenched teeth. 

Ronan glared at his father. “Make it work.” 

Niall let out a grunt and started to walk over towards the collectors with the pinto in tow. Ronan turned towards Blue. 

“Stay here and let me and him handle this. Just because my father ponzi’d you into this shit, doesn’t mean you’re going to be in the aftermath if things go to shit.” 

Blue crossed her arms. “How the fuck are you going to handle this? Lying is against your moral code.” 

Ronan clinched his jaw. “You have to make exceptions sometimes. Fuck. Stay here.” 

He stalked away before he could let Blue coo over how he actually seemed to care about people. He wasn’t a fucking robot, Jesus. He could feel his skin heating up from the pressure. Ronan saw his father was already trying to butter up the men with small talk when Ronan came up next to him. He issued a severe glare, just to get them to understand he wasn’t fucking around. 

The men had accents. They sounded Russian. Ronan almost threw his head back and let out a groan. Where the fuck was he? In a  _ Die Hard  _ movie? But he kept his composure. 

“Who’s this?” one of the men asked, nodding his head towards Ronan. 

Niall waved him off. “My bodyguard. He’s a mute.” 

Ronan bared his teeth but didn’t say anything. He really loathed his father at that moment. The three men eyed Ronan warily before looking at the horse in question. “He produces a lot of white?” 

Niall let out a laugh like he was joking with his friends. “Men, this specimen is more semen than a horse at this point.” 

The three men let out a smirk of amusement. Then they glanced back at Ronan again. He could feel the sweat dripping down his neck. The leader gestured towards him. 

“What’s wrong with him? He’s sweating.” 

“It’s fucking hot, you assholes,” Ronan bit without realizing he had ruined Niall’s facade. The three men glared at Niall. 

“Thought you said he was a mute?” the leader accused. 

Niall looked surprised, but anger was laced through his eyes. “It’s the first I’ve heard him speak. You’d do well to shut up,” he gritted out. 

“Are you a cop?” one of the demanded. 

Ronan scoffed. “Do I look like a fucking cop?” 

“That’s something a nark would say. Take off your clothes.” 

Ronan was taken aback by the comment. “What the fuck. Why would I fucking do that?” he barked. 

“Take them off. Prove you’re not a cop.” 

“No, I’m not-” 

“Ronan, take them off,” Niall commanded. Ronan whipped towards his father with disbelief in his eyes. 

“Are you serious right now?” 

Niall shrugged his shoulders. “They just want to see that you’re not wearing a wire.” 

Ronan got into Niall’s face. “This is where you would fucking defend your own son.” 

The argument escalated, with the men yelling at Ronan to take his clothes off, and Ronan biting back his refusal with various curses laced in. 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Ronan tugged off his muscle shirt off his head and threw the shirt on the ground. He did not wish to be seen shirtless in this situation. 

“Pants too.” 

“You’re fucking insane,” Ronan spat. 

“Do it now.” 

He kicked off his boots and purposely made sure they hit Niall in the face and crotch. His father bent over from the pain as Ronan stripped to his boxers. He threw his hands up and glared at the men before him. Niall had recovered and gestured to a nearly naked Ronan. 

“See he’s got no wire. He’s not a nark.” 

“Then why is he so sweaty?” the leader asked. 

Ronan felt extremely uncomfortable in this situation. “I only do this when I have to lie,” he admitted without thinking. His brain seemed to short circuit from the entire situation; he hadn’t done something like this since his Kavinsky days. And those were moments where he wouldn’t like to remember and brought back terrible memories. This entire situation reminded him of that. 

“Jesus Christ,” Niall muttered. 

“Lying? He’s lying?” the leader exclaimed. 

One of his henchmen brought out a gun, and the other a crowbar. Ronan closed his eyes at the sight of it. Niall threw his hands up to try and pacify the situation. “Whoa, no need to bring weapons into this deal.” 

They waved their weapons in the direction of Ronan. “He’s lying to us. Therefore so are you!” 

Ronan hated this. But it was the only thing he could think of that could get him out of this alive. Suddenly he started to twitch and use spastic movements. Niall looked at Ronan like he was crazy. And so did the three men. 

“What’s wrong with him?” the leader asked. 

“It’s the gum. It had sugar in it,” he gasped. 

Ronan continued his charade and upped the ante. Slowly the men started to back away. “This guy is weird.” 

“Very strange,” the other man said. “We won’t be doing business.” Then they got in their car and pulled away. 

As soon as they were out of sight, Ronan dropped the act. He punched his father in the face, making him stumble to the ground. Niall let out a groan and was holding his jaw when he stood up. 

“Jesus, your left hook is still a killer. What the fuck was that for?” Niall hissed glaring at Ronan. 

“This is your fucking fault!” 

Niall had the gall to look offended at the accusation. “My fault? You’re the one who botched the plan! You’ve always been a terrible liar!” 

“If you could’ve resisted yourself from fucking conning my friend, or anyone just one fucking time, we wouldn’t be in this situation! So yeah, it’s your fucking fault.” 

After Ronan said that, he heard the sound of a car pulling away. Both him and Niall looked over to see Blue driving Niall’s rental car away leaving them there. 

“SARGENT! WHAT THE FUCK?” Ronan bellowed. 

“You two have to talk to each other now like fucking adults!” Blue screamed out the window before leaving them stranded. 

Ronan let out a frustrated groan and rubbed his hands over his scalp. He turned towards his father who now had a blossoming bruise on his jaw. He let his hands fall to his sides. 

“Now look at what’s happened. Stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere, with you, and that fucking horse.” 

“I was ready to get all of your friend's money back to her you know,” Niall said. 

Ronan looked at his father, and for the first time saw a hint of remorse on his face. He couldn’t believe his father had that in him. He was the most shameless person he knew. 

“But you insisted on coming here with me.” 

“That’s because I didn’t fucking trust you to actually do that.” 

“Why would you even think otherwise, Ronan?” Niall wondered. 

Ronan looked at his father like he was an alien from another planet. “Why? I could list a hundred reasons why I wouldn’t fucking trust you. You’re a goddamn conman for a living. It’s what you do.” 

“I’m an antiquities dealer, Ronan,” Niall reminded. 

“That cons people money. You sell that shit like it’s worth more than it really is. Most of the antiquities you sell, are just bullshit that you seem to pull out of your dreams or imagination or some shit. And ignorant, rich people eat that shit right up because you have a silver tongue. You don’t fool me.” 

Niall opened his mouth to say something but Ronan wasn’t finished. “And the craziest part of this entire debacle is you somehow make it seem like it’s my fucking fault this went to shit. This isn’t my fucking fault. I didn’t invite you to come visit me in L.A., in fact, I would never do that. I see you for Christmas and sometimes Thanksgiving, and that’s all I’d like. Why the fuck do you think I moved across the fucking country and never looked back?” 

Niall tilted his head a little looking at Ronan. His lips were pursed together. “Are you mad at me, Little Seal?” 

Ronan scoffed. “Do not fucking call me that. I’ve been mad at you for the past ten years of my life.” 

“Ten years, huh?” Niall echoed. 

“I am a horrible adult. I dropped out of graduate school, I got into drugs and developed acute alcoholism, and got my anger issues because of you. I’m a fucking bartender, and I live with my childhood best friend who is a fucking professor at UCLA, and our college friend who works successfully at some advertising agency but still manages to love life, and this girl who found us on Craigslist. I’m not Declan who seems to be living it up lying to the American people on Capitol Hill or work as a kindergarten teacher helping a new generation of kids like Matthew. All this shit has been bottled up because of you.”

Niall took a step back literally. He nodded his head and sighed. “I’ll take that hit.” 

Ronan shook his head. He couldn’t believe his father sometimes. “It’s not taking a hit you shitbag. It’s owning up to being a shitty father and saying sorry or something. Acknowledging it.” 

It was silent between the two of them for a minute. Then Niall glanced over at Ronan who was still shirtless and in his boxers. “You look cold. I’m going to give you my pants.” 

Ronan bristled. “Don’t fucking do that. God.” 

Niall shook his head. “No, Ronan. You say I’m a shitty father and I haven’t done anything for you? Well, I’m doing it now.” 

“Dad, no. This isn’t fucking helping anyone.” 

But Niall already took them off to show his own pair of boxers. Ronan had never felt more embarrassed by his father than at that moment. He held them out to Ronan, but he wasn’t taking the bait. Instead, the pinto took the pants in its mouth and started to chew on them. Ronan gestured to the horse. 

“Dad, your pants,” he said before faltering. He still felt the anger inside but it had gone from a boil to a simmer. He let out a sigh watching the horse chew on the expensive pants of his father. “This is fucking ridiculous.” 

He heard his father let out a sigh. Ronan looked up. Niall was wearing a look that he didn’t recognize. He shrugged his shoulders. “Alright, maybe I did make some mistakes along the way. I’m not fucking perfect because no one is. But anything I did to ever make you feel this anger and hurt, was never my intention. Ronan, you are my son, and I love you. I can’t promise that things will change to the way you probably want it, but don’t be afraid to call my bullshit once in a while.” 

Ronan didn’t say anything. He’d never heard his father apologize about anything in his entire life. Niall let out another sigh. 

“Even if it takes a punch to the face to get the message across,” he said with a smirk coming across his face. 

Ronan for the first time in ten years felt a semblance of the way he felt about his father before everything. He returned the smirk. 

“Don’t think I’ll forgive you for everything, completely,” Ronan warned just to make sure his father knew he wasn’t scot-free. 

Niall let a large grin over his face. “Would never dream of it.” 

“The maggot left us here alone. We need someone to pick us up. Give me your phone. Your real phone,” Ronan clarified at the last moment. 

 

* * *

 

He had called Blue demanding her to come back and pick them up, but she refused. Gansey was still out of town for this symposium, and Noah was MIA, probably smoking with his work buddies somewhere. Which meant Blue had convinced (softly coerced) Adam into picking up Ronan, his father, and the horse. And returning the rental car.

When he parked the car and got out, he looked very confused at the sight he saw. Ronan, who was just in his boxers and combat boots, and Niall who was in a dress shirt but also just in his boxers, and a horse. He walked over and eyed them suspiciously with his hands on his hips. 

“Why do I always seem to find you in very weird situations, Lynch?” he wryly asked with a hint of a smirk. 

Ronan felt his face and neck flush at what he meant. Niall just looked confused and turned to Ronan. 

“What does that mean?” 

“Nothing,” Ronan quickly dismissed. He did not want to be reminded of the Whelk incident with Blue for the rest of his life. 

Ronan observed that Adam was still dressed in the same clothes he’d seen him earlier in. A white dress shirt, and black slacks. His hair seemed a little more unruly now than it had been hours before on his date. Adam let out a sigh and took out his pack of cigarettes and put one between his lips. He offered his father one, who denied the offer. Adam didn’t seem to care and lit it taking a quick drag. 

“Well, Blue seemed to give me the SparkNotes version of whatever shit you got involved with and basically forced me to pick your sorry asses up.” 

“Gee, thanks,” Ronan muttered crossing his arms. It was a lot chillier now that it was nighttime. 

Adam didn’t look impressed with Ronan. “You’re lucky Blue is convincing. I wanted to leave you to suffer for botching my date tonight.” 

“What did she break up with you? Dump her wine over your head?” Ronan jabbed, feeling just a little happy. 

Adam rolled his eyes. “Fuck you. She decided to give it another go on Friday.” Then he turned his attention to Niall. He took another drag of the cigarette blowing the smoke slowly into the air. 

“And you’re not off the hook either, Lynch Senior. You robbed my best friend of five hundred dollars, and I still expect you to give it to her.” 

Niall threw his hands up in the sign of surrender. “I swear on my mother’s grave she will have it back.” 

Adam eyed him up and down. “Mmhmm. She better.” 

It was vague, but the way Adam was looking at him was dangerous. Ronan felt goosebumps rise up on his skin. He spared a glance at his father and saw he also felt unease by Adam. Adam dropped the cigarette and stubbed out the flame and got into the driver's seat of the car. 

“Return the horse tomorrow. I just want to fucking sleep.” 

Ronan led the horse into the cart. 

“You used to date that man?” Niall softly asked, hoping Adam wouldn’t hear them. 

Ronan nodded his head but didn’t say anything. Niall glanced at him again before nodding his head in approval. 

“Now that is a man to be reckoned with. I see the appeal for you,” he commented slapping Ronan on the chest and jumping into the car. Ronan got into the passenger’s seat. It was a quiet ride back to the loft.

 

* * *

 

When Ronan woke up the next day, his father was gone. He walked into the living room and saw that Blue was already up. She was sitting on a bar stool picking at her cereal. When she heard him enter she looked up.

“Your dad left.” 

Ronan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I figured that.” 

“I’m sorry that I got you into this whole mess with your dad,” she muttered. 

Ronan let out a sigh and sat down across from her. On the table was a simple piece of paper folded up, and cash next to it. He gestured his head towards that. 

“What is that?” he asked. 

“A note from him. And the cash he owed me, and Noah apparently. I didn’t look at the note. I figured it was for your eyes only.” 

“Whatever happened with my dad was not your fault, Sargent. He gets the best of everyone, even people like you. Don’t sweat it.” Then he pushed her head away roughly just to get some sense of normalcy again. It was getting way too friendly and mushy for his liking. 

“Whatever Lynch,” she grumbled with a smirk on her face. 

Ronan picked up the note and read his father’s perfect script. 

_ Ronan,  _

_ I’m sorry for all the shit I put you through. I won’t turn up unannounced again. And I also left the money for Blue and Noah that I owed them; it was the least I could do. See you at Christmas. Love you.  _ _ Cha bhi fios aire math an tobair gus an tràigh e. _

_ Dad   _

The value of the well is not known until it goes dry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! I wanted to add a Gaelic proverb in there somewhere because my Irish ass couldn't resist. I hope you liked the ending of how Ronan and Niall reconciled a little bit. 
> 
> I was thinking of doing an arc based off one of the Halloween episodes. What do you all think of that? As always, comments and kudos are always appreciated and encouraged. They give me strength and motivation to continue on. Thanks, everyone!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gansey, Blue and Noah hold some secret meetings about Ronan's attitude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first part of the Halloween/Michael Keaton arc. I struggled to get this one started and to finish the first part. Mostly due to trying to fit characterizations correctly into the storyline from the show. (I hope I kind of succeeded?) 
> 
> But you get to see things from Gansey's pov for the first time! So that's exciting. I hope you all like it! 
> 
> This is not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Blue had called a meeting in the empty loft across the hall. Gansey was running late from work because he had a student crying in his office about his senior project. Gansey had been thrown in charge of the class this semester, and he had enjoyed running the class well enough before that incident happened. He remembered doing his own senior project well enough when he was at Princeton, and he empathized with the student breaking down from the stress of research and deadlines, but it was still unexpected.

When he arrived in front of the loft, he quickly knocked on the door to apartment 4B. Blue swung it open from inside and quickly ushered him in before closing the door. He was surprised about the way Blue was reacting. She seemed anxious about whatever the meeting was going to be about. 

Gansey dropped his messenger bag filled with various papers and essays and handouts to the floor and rolled his shoulders. Noah was in his business clothes, looking nicely professional in his dress shirt and pressed slacks. Even his white hair was styled carefully, unlike his usual look of tousled spiked. 

“Why are we having a secret meeting in the empty loft?” Gansey asked curiosity peaking. 

“Because I don’t want Ronan to find us,” Blue answered. 

Noah had his arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t think Ronan will be looking for us.” 

Blue flapped her hand in dismissal. She too was also dressed less eccentric than her usual style. She was wearing a green crop top that had holes artfully placed around, and also went off her shoulder showing off the beige cami and black bra straps. She had a jean skirt with paint splatters and fishnet stockings and combat boots on. Her black hair was clipped back in a rainbow of clips of varying sizes. Gansey thought she looked marvelous. 

Gansey blinked out of his thoughts and looked around the empty loft. He couldn’t believe how spacious it was with no furniture to liven it up with. It made him realize just how  _ lived _ his own apartment was. He turned to Noah. 

“This is such a weird feeling, right? It’s so empty,” Gansey commented. 

Noah nodded his head also looking around. Gansey had always loved stories, which is probably a reason he studies history. He enjoys telling them, and going on hunts and finding clues. 

“You know why they can’t keep a tenant in here?” he asked. 

Noah rolled his eyes but had an endearing smile on his face. “Oh, please tell me why, great scavenger Gansey,” he said dramatically. 

Blue had her eyebrows raised and was looking expectantly at him. The two of them had started to get close to one another in the past few months. He wouldn’t call what they had dating, but it was more along the lines of mutual pinning. He couldn’t believe he liked this quirky, headstrong woman who gave Ronan a run for his money in jabs and glares. 

He had learned to read her reactions. She didn’t want her friends to know about their quasi-romantic relationship. Gansey looked at her and saw that she had the start of a smile endearment, but was also trying to act bored. 

“Well, Noah my friend, Mrs. Madison died on the toilet,” he stage-whispered. Blue did not look impressed and Noah was trying to hide his laughter behind closed lips. “And to come here on Halloween…” Gansey threw his hands up in surrender, “seems risky to do so.” 

Blue came up and punched him in the shoulder. “You are so full of shit, Gansey. There ain’t no ghost here.” 

Gansey faked offense. He let out a gasp of horror and placed a hand over his heart. Noah was hysterical laughing at the two of them. He was hunched over his hands gripping his knees. 

“ That’s what you think! Jane, I am offended you think so low of me. I am a historian, I look for facts and just bring them to life,” he declared. 

Blue scoffed. “Whatever, we are getting off topic. We need to talk about Ronan.” 

Noah raised himself back up and had stopped his laughing. His face was still flushed red from it though, but he tried to look serious. Gansey nodded his head. Ronan had been worse than usual lately. Gansey hadn’t seen him like that since he dropped out of graduate school some years ago. 

“I’m worried about him. He hasn’t been to work in a week; all he does is sit on the couch blasting his stupid electronica music and petting Chainsaw while yelling at cheesy soap operas when it gets too romantic. It’s fucking annoying.” 

“It is a problem. He hasn't been like this in years. Is it because of his dad’s visit?” Noah added. 

Gansey was pondering what could be the problem. He was rubbing his lower lip thinking about it. “No, they left on good terms. Plus that was over a month ago. I think it has to do with Adam.” 

Blue looked taken aback. She looked at Gansey like she didn’t understand what he was saying. “Adam? What does this have to do with him?” 

“Oh, Blue. You must know that Ronan is practically in love with Adam.” 

She pointed a finger at him with a fierce glare. “Don’t you use that condescending tone on me! Of course, I know Ronan has a colossal affection for Adam. God, it’s hard not to notice. I still don’t understand why Adam would be the cause of his ire of self-loathing at the moment.” 

“That’s what you think. Ronan think’s he’s so smooth about his secrets. But I think the two have been seeing each other again, and they had a fight,” Noah piped in. 

It was both Gansey and Blue who looked at Noah like he was crazy. “What? That’s preposterous,” Gansey claimed. 

“It isn’t like Adam to go back to someone like that. Especially, Ronan? And especially what went down between them with Adam’s fatherhood scare?” 

Noah shrugged his shoulders. “I know Ronan. Gansey you can be oblivious most times, so you’re not a reliable source,” he said with his eyebrows raised and a smirk. Gansey did not find the joke funny. “And my lovely nymph, you do not know Ronan as well as I. The two have been seeing each other again, mark my words.” 

Suddenly Noah straightened up and a shiver went through his body. He looked between the two of them. “Did you feel that?” 

Gansey tilted his head. “What do you mean?” 

Noah put his hands on his hips. “I’m not saying there’s a ghost, but that breeze that went through my body did not feel natural.” 

Gansey had always liked the idea of supernatural. He raised his eyebrows over at Noah. Blue let out a sigh. “There’s no ghost, guys.”

She let out another sigh like she was trying to psych herself up to say what she wanted to say. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this. But I miss the old Ronan. He wasn’t this unbearable before.” 

Gansey pursed his lips together. “Me too, Jane. He hasn’t been this bad in a long time. I don’t want him to spiral again.” 

“And I’m having a party tonight. I can’t have him lying on the couch being even more abysmal than usual.” 

“I’ll talk to him,” Gansey offered up. 

Blue clasped her hands together and tilted her head back. “Thank you.” 

“Ronan can be difficult. But I’ve talked him through this stuff before. I got this.” 

Noah sharply turned his head with his gray eyes wide. “ _ Got this _ ,” he repeated, but his voice was much lower than normal. It startled Gansey and Blue. Gansey felt his skin prickle, and Blue scoffed. 

“That was Noah.” 

“I don’t think so. I didn’t control that. There’s a ghost!” Noah exclaimed. 

“Really?” Gansey wondered. 

Noah let out a laugh and rolled his eyes. He walked over and patted Gansey on the shoulder. “I love you and your intellect, but damn, you will fall for anything.” 

Gansey just glared at Noah, and gently pulled his hand off his shoulder before walking out of the empty loft. He opened the door to see Ronan still on the couch. He was only in his boxers which had shamrocks all over them. Chainsaw was in his lap pecking at the birdseed in Ronan’s open palm. The flatscreen was blaring out a Spanish telenovela. Gansey watched as a man and woman cried and kissed each other passionately. Ronan threw some popcorn and was no doubt cursing in Spanish. 

He felt Blue come up next to him. “Since when does Ronan speak Spanish?” she asked. 

Gansey was still looking at his best friend worriedly. “He’s very proficient in many languages actually. He just doesn’t use that skill often.” 

“Huh.” 

The three of them just continued to watch as Ronan spoke in Spanish to the TV. He hadn’t shaved in a week, and a nice beard was coming in. There were food crumbs in the coarse facial hair, that made Gansey cringe a little. Ronan leaned forward and grabbed a bottle of hot sauce. Gansey felt his eyes widen. 

“Ronan, that’s hot sauce,” he said. Ronan then squeezed the bottle and poured the sauce into his mouth. 

All three of them made various noises of disgust at Ronan’s horrible eating habits. Blue’s face was pinched together. Noah had a look of horrified fascination. 

“How did he not choke on that?” he whispered. 

“I have no idea, but I need to get ready for this party tonight, and don’t have time to deal with this,” Blue said before walking away and into her room. 

Noah patted Gansey’s shoulder. “This one is on you, bro.” 

Gansey rubbed his thumb over his lower lip. Ronan was still watching the telenovela, and ignoring the fact that Gansey was standing there. Gansey let out a sigh and moved to sit next to Ronan on the couch. He reached across him and grabbed the remote before turning the tv off. Ronan whipped around. 

“What the fuck, Dick?” he exclaimed. 

Gansey hated when he had to act like a patronizing asshole to Ronan. But the man was really giving him no choice in the matter. Gansey tossed the remote behind the couch, it skittered across the wood floors far away from the two of them. 

“Ronan, what in fresh hell is wrong with you?” Gansey asked. He adjusted himself so he was facing Ronan directly. 

Ronan bared his teeth at Gansey, a classic sign of him being defensive of himself. But Gansey was patient. He had the weekend to finish grading those annotated bibliographies. Now he was going to get Ronan to talk, whether the other man liked it or not. 

“Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m fucking fine,” Ronan bit out, and took another handful of popcorn before stuffing it into his mouth. 

Gansey crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch. He had a feeling he would need to get comfortable. 

“Lying is not in your nature Ronan. Noah has a theory for your sulking,” Gansey pointed out. 

The other man just eyed Gansey with skepticism. He stared at Gansey for a long time. Gansey has been playing this game for over ten years, it wasn’t going to work, and Ronan knew that. “What’s the creep have to say?” 

“He swears that you and Adam are seeing each other again, but you got into a fight. I told him that was absurd.” 

Gansey watched Ronan freeze up. He wasn’t looking at Gansey, and his fair skin was starting to flush red. Gansey’s eyebrows shot up and he leaned forward towards Ronan gaping at him. 

“Don’t tell me… Ronan are you serious?” Gansey breathed out. 

Ronan let out a growl and stood up. He turned to face Gansey, his face beet red at this point. “Jesus Christ, it’s none of your damn business.” 

He stalked out of the living room. Gansey thought it could’ve gone a lot worse. He’d take the little wins. 

 

* * *

 

Blue walked into the loft and witnessed Ronan punch a pumpkin. Noah threw his hands in the air. 

“Ronan! What the hell!” he exclaimed. 

She dropped the bags of snacks on the floor and shut the door behind her before walking up to the scene. Ronan seemed to be in an even worse mood than he was earlier, meaning Blue deduced that Gansey had in fact made the situation worse than better. 

“Pumpkin doesn’t matter Czerny. They just rot anyway,” Ronan bit back. 

Noah slumped against the couch with his arms crossed over his chest. He was pouting and looked like a puppy. Blue ran a hand over her shoulder and glared at Ronan who didn’t look bothered by being an asshole. 

“Can I talk to you about the party?” Blue asked.  

“You don’t want me to come to the party,” he said back instantly. 

Blue hated how he was able to hold eye contact for such an uncomfortable amount of time. But she wasn’t one to stand down, not since she lived with him. The two have been through enough weird shit as it is. She scoffed and flapped her hand. 

“What? No. No,” she stuttered out. 

“Maggot, you don’t want me there,” he insisted. 

Blue looked down at Noah and they shared a look. Both of them shook their heads together. “No! Seriously!” 

“Uh, huh.” 

Blue stuck her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. “I mean, I wouldn’t be going if I wasn’t the one throwing up. Parties are lame anyway.” 

Ronan just nodded his head with fake understanding. “Not a big deal, Maggot. I won’t come. I’ll just stay at home, and hang out in the stupid costume.” He looked down and barked a laugh before leaning down to get in Blue’s face. “Wait a minute. Your home is my home. See you at the party.” 

He picked up the top piece of the pumpkin by the stem and tossed it at Noah’s face before stomping out of the apartment. Both her and Noah were looking at the door before turning back to each other. Noah shrugged his shoulders and he had a smirk on his face. “Seeing each other.” 

Blue rolled her eyes. “We need to find Gansey. Where is he?” 

Noah got up and dusted all the pumpkin guts off his shorts before pointing to Gansey’s room. They walked over to the door together, and Blue pushed it open without knocking. Gansey sat in the middle of the floor, with papers strewn all around him. He had a red pen dangling between his lips as he read something written by his student. Blue watched as he shook his head, took the pen away from his mouth and scribbled something in the margin while aggressively underlining something twice. 

“What do you mean? I need specifics!” he muttered to himself. 

“Gansey,” Blue said to get his attention. It didn’t work as he continued to scribble all over the paper. 

Noah shook his head. “You’re not going to get his attention like that. Watch and learn my sweet nymph.” 

He cleared his throat dramatically, with a fist over his mouth like he was getting ready to belt a note in an opera. “Glendower wasn’t buried in North America. So your entire research and life is a lie.” 

Gansey dropped his pen and he whipped around to face them so fast Blue thought he’d get whiplash. He had a scandalized expression on his face, and he put a hand over his heart. It looked as if he’d been betrayed by his own kin. Blue couldn’t believe it. 

“Noah! You know that isn’t true! I have found evidence that states otherwise!” 

Noah let out a loud laugh and plopped himself next to Gansey and wrapped his arm around him and pulled him in. “I’m just fucking around. We needed your attention. Had to show Blue how it was done.” 

He beckoned Blue to join them on the floor with a wave of his hand. Blue pursed her lips and sat down crisscrossed. Gansey clicked his pen and threw it onto the paper. He still looked a little miffed at Noah. 

“What is it you need me for?” he asked. 

“Gansey, please enlighten us. What did you tell Ronan when you talked to him?” Noah wondered. 

Gansey looked a little embarrassed. “I just told him what you thought. The thing with him and Adam.” 

“Well, what did he say?” Noah prompted. His gray eyes were wide and his eyebrows raised. 

Gansey ran a hand through his hair. “Well, it was lack of what he said actually. He told me to mind my own fucking business.” 

Noah let out a whoop and shoved Gansey’s shoulders roughly. Gansey let out a grunt as he fell over from the force before sitting back up and rubbing his shoulder. 

“Oh, my Goooddd!” Noah shrieked. “I knew it!” 

“Well, this is great and all. But I want to know how to fix it. Because it put Ronan in an even worse mood than usual, and he’s going to be stalking around scaring every person in a five-foot radius tonight. What the fuck do we do?” Blue asked annoyed. 

Noah had a pondering look on his face. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were pursed together. He looked towards Gansey, who seemed to be contemplating solutions too. Then he turned to Gansey. 

“I have an idea,” he said softly. It was the tone he used when he was unsure that it would work. Gansey gestured for him to continue. 

“I think, it’s time for Ronan to get a letter from an old friend,” he said slowly. 

Blue watched as Gansey’s eyes widened in horror. Blue didn’t know what that meant but she wanted to find out. 

“Noah, that is not a good idea. I don’t think so.” 

Blue crossed her arms over her chest. “What old friend?” 

Gansey turned to her and plastered a smile on his face. It was the one he used to charm people into doing what he wanted. “Forget you heard anything, Jane.” 

She shook her head and pointed at Gansey. “I don’t think so. You’re not pulling that polished son of the Secretary of State crap on me. Not this time. What old friend?” 

Noah leaned closer. “We need him, Gansey.  _ He  _ needs him.” 

Gansey closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.” 

“Gansey,” Noah said. It sounded like he meant to say please. 

“Who is this guy anyway?” Blue asked. She wanted to know what the big deal was over this, and how it related back to Ronan. “Is he an ex-boyfriend or something?” 

Gansey let out a scoff. “God I wish it were that.” 

“Michael Keaton,” Noah finally admitted. 

Blue tilted her head confused. “Michael Keaton? Like the guy who played Beetlejuice? What the hell does this have to do with Ronan?” 

Gansey and Noah exchanged a look, and Noah let out a sigh before turning his attention towards Blue. 

“When Ronan was seven years old,” Noah began. It sounded like the start of a children’s tale. Gansey shook his head and waved his hands back and forth. 

“No, no. You’re telling it wrong. I’ll say it. When Ronan was seven years old, Niall started to go into his...business. You know that story already, from your own, uh, experiences with Ronan’s father. He was gone for long increments of time, and I mean months at a time. No contact, nothing. And Ronan loved his father more than it seemed to be anything, and it left him woeful in his absences. 

“Ronan always had a temper. When he was younger it would only be flares though. But it would come out during these absences. He’d start to act up. Now his mother, Aurora, tried everything. But that woman is not made to deal with conflict, truly. So she and Declan, his older brother, hatched the idea to type out a letter of support and comfort in the form of Ronan’s hero, Batman, or as you know him, Michael Keaton.” 

Blue felt her jaw open. She openly stared at Gansey for a long minute, trying to comprehend what she just heard. It was amazing how much she really did not know about Ronan at all. 

“Are you for fucking real?” she blurted out. 

Gansey nodded his head. “Oh yes. He loved those letters. He wrote back to Michael Keaton quite often actually. Until he became embarrassed by it and had his ‘reputation’ to hold up. But he still does it secretly. I find drafts of them sometimes in his room.” 

“You go snooping through his shit?” Blue asked incredulously. 

Gansey waved his hand. “That is beyond the point, Jane. Now I was his only friend until Noah joined our little group when I met him at Princeton. And college and Ronan didn’t really mesh together well, and he didn’t like being away from his childhood home so much.” 

Blue smirked. “Wow, Ronan isn’t nearly as tough as he acts. What a homebody.” 

Gansey continued on like she didn’t interrupt him. “So I took it upon myself to take the role of Michael Keaton after Declan didn't want to anymore. I sent him typed letters to him during school, with no return address of course.” 

Gansey stood up and walked into his closet. Blue heard him fumbling around for a moment before he emerged with a stack full of paper. He handed them to Blue. She sifted through them, all the copies of the letters he had sent to Ronan as Michael fucking Keaton. Blue was astounded. She looked up at Gansey who was colored pink with embarrassment. 

“Holy shit. You’ve been catfishing Ronan for years!” she exclaimed. 

He tilted his head like he was confused. “Catfish?” 

Blue picked up the latest letter he wrote to Ronan. It wasn’t dated but she saw Adam’s name thrown in there. “He still fucking does this? Jesus Christ. How does this even work?” 

“Ronan puts them in the mail drop in the lobby, with some stupid fake address Gansey conjured up years ago. He usually makes me retrieve them before the mail gets picked up that day and I bring it back to Gansey to read. Then he writes his own letter, sends it and a few days later it comes back to the loft for Ronan,” Noah explained.

Blue shook her head flabbergasted. “This is literally the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. And you all do some crazy shit. What the fuck. This is crazy enough that it could work.” 

Gansey took the stack of letters back from Blue. “Yes, but I really don’t think I should do this any more. It’s gone too long. I’m lying to Ronan Lynch, the person who despises lying more than anything in the world.” 

“Then why did you tell me the story?” 

“Because you pressured me to do it!” Gansey shot back. It was the most exasperated she’d ever seen him. He stood up and brushed the wrinkles out of his pants and let out a deep breath. 

“Now, I’m going to grab a slice of pizza from the fridge and heat it up to distract myself from this lie I’m living.” He looked down at the papers disdainfully. “And these horrific european history papers I have to read.”

Gansey walked out of his room. She heard him mutter: “How does one mix up Elizabeth I and Victoria? Not even in the same century for heaven's sake!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it! The thing about Gansey dealing with students crying in his office about senior projects is actually something that happened to one of my professors and I thought it would be amusing to throw in there. I also liked throwing some things about his life as a history professor into the story, mostly because I myself am a history student. 
> 
> I hope the whole thing with the letters isn't too into left field. I tried to make it seem more natural. Hopefully, I succeeded a little bit. I wouldn't expect the other two parts up by Halloween, so I wouldn't wait up. 
> 
> Anyway, comments and kudos are always appreciated. Thanks, everyone!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue gets information out of Adam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I'd get back to this eventually! But a lot has happened in the past 4 months that I've just been focusing mostly on that and cropping up occasionally to post something, which was usually new stories. But I didn't forget about this fic, which is the most fun I one I have going for me. 
> 
> Turns out the Keaton arc won't be as big in this story as it is on the TV show; it will probably turn gears more towards Adam and Ronan's complicated relationship, which is probably better anyway :) 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter! It was also not edited or beta'd by me, so all mistakes are mine.

Blue knocked on the door to Adam’s apartment three times. And got no answer each time. She let out a huff and opened up her crochet purse sticking her hand inside shuffling the various items around until she felt the familiar jagged edge of the spare key to Adam’s apartment. Even though she left it when she moved into the loft, Adam had given it back to her a few days later. 

As she stuck the key into the lock, she opened the door and knocked letting Adam know that she was here. 

“Adam?” She hesitantly called out.

Blue looked around at the tiny one bedroom apartment. Papers and blueprints were scattered all over the place. The lights were off, and on the countertop in his little kitchenette were mugs lined up. The smell of smoke lingered faintly. Adam was nowhere in sight. 

She called out to him again and moved further into the apartment. She opened the little door to his bedroom. And she found Adam hunched over his desk, with his face planted on top of a blueprint, heavily asleep.

Blue let out a sigh and walked over to her best friend. She saw that between two of his fingers was a burnt out cigarette. 

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered taking the cigarette out of his fingers and putting it in the ashtray on his desk. 

Then she shoved his shoulder lightly. “Adam, get up.” 

Adam jolted awake, his blue eyes wide and he looked around his room quickly. Blue took a step back and crossed her arms. Once the initial shock ceased, Adam bowed his head and rubbed his eyes with his palms. 

“Blue, what are you doing here?” he said in a muffled tone. 

Adam stood up from his chair and stretched his arms over his head raising his shirt up. Blue heard the bones pop and creak back into place. Then he slumped down into his chair again. 

“I’m here to ask if you’ll make it toHalloweenween party tonight. You never responded to my email.” 

Adam raised his eyebrows. “You sent that to me through an  _ email _ ?” he asked with dismay.

Blue flapped her hand and walked over to sit on Adam’s bed. She crossed her legs and leaned back on her elbows. 

“I figured you obsessively check your email, so you’d see it quicker. Texting seems to be a hit or miss with you sometimes.” 

Adam sighed and ran a hand through his bedhead. “Which email did you send it to?” 

“Your personal one.” 

He let out a huff. “Blue, I barely check my personal one. It’s where all the junk emails go to. And I wouldn’t call checking my work email a lot, obsessive. I just have a ton of things to respond to for work. No offense, but responding to an evite for a halloween party is low on my agenda.” 

Blue crossed her arms. “Offense taken.” 

She was only kidding. She knew Adam’s work was important to him. “But you didn’t answer my question. Are you coming or not?” 

Adam slunk down further into his chair. His lanky legs spreading out and almost touching the bed frame. “I don’t think so. I have a ton of work to catch up on for Monday, and Murray has me working the opening shift at the shop tomorrow morning.”

Blue flopped down onto his bed. “Oh come on, Adam. You seriously need to let out some steam. You’re wound up so tight I’m pretty sure I can make you tick.” 

“Blue--” he started to protest. 

She sat up again and looked Adam right in the eyes. “This is about Ronan isn’t it?” 

Adam’s eyes widened and his jaw slackened. He looked indignant. Adam sat up in his chair again. 

“What? Where would you even get that idea from?” he questioned. 

Blue rolled her eyes. “Your ruse is up, Parrish. Gansey got Ronan to admit to it, without actually saying any words. What the fuck is up with you two anyway? First you have a secret relationship, then you break up, and now you’re back to another secret relationship? What gives?” 

The two stare at each other for a minute. Then Adam breaks with a huff and spins around in his chair to grab a cigarette. Blue hops off the bed and snatches it and the pack away from Adam and dashes across the room. 

“Blue, for real?” he huffs. 

She points a finger at him. “I am getting you off these killers, I swear to God. Now tell me what’s the deal?”     

  He flaps his own hand at her with an eyebrow raised. “Now why would I tell you anything, Sargent?”

Blue opens the window and chucks the cigarettes out of it. She hears Adam sputter behind him. “Blue! I paid fifteen bucks for that!” 

“For someone as cheap and frugal as you are, you developed an expensive habit. Now tell me, because I’m your best friend!” 

When she turned back around she saw Adam had stood up and was moving around his little room. He was shuffling through his drawers and pulled out a pair of boxer briefs. 

“You’ll have to raise the stakes, Blue. Now that you are just demanding it out of me.” 

He walked out of the room with Blue following behind and into the bathroom. Blue was thinking of something. 

“I’ll buy you a coffee from the café down the street.” 

Adam stuck his head out the door opening. He was in the middle of putting shaving cream on his face, so he looked ridiculous. 

“Buying me things is a no-go. How long have you known me again?” he asked rhetorically and teasingly. 

“Oh hush up. How about, I make you breakfast. Even though it’s almost noon. I’ll even make some nutella filled croissants for you.” 

Adam didn’t respond for a moment, which was when Blue knew she got him. Adam had a horrible sweet tooth he hid from others, and himself. He rarely let himself indulge in anything. 

“Fine. I have to shower and finish up that stupid blueprint anyway. There’s money in my wallet for the convenience store down the street.”

Blue smiled triumphantly as she opened Adam’s worn out leather wallet and took out some cash from it. “That sweet tooth of yours will be the death of you.” 

“I thought for sure it’d be the cigarettes,” he quipped back. 

Blue laughed. “Stop being such a wise ass for once.”  

She ran down to the convenience store a block over, and got whatever she needed to make Adam a breakfast. By the time she made it back to the apartment, she heard the shower turn off. She put all the bags on the counter and cleared the way for her to make eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and of course the nutella croissants. She fired up the stove and oven and began to cook.

Persephone, one of the many ladies living in her childhood home on Fox Way always made pie and nutella croissants. Adam had taken a liking to both, and especially the pecan pies Persephone made. Blue could cook well, but she could never live up to Persephone’s pie making legacy. 

“Smells good, Blue!” Adam called out. 

“You know what’s going to be better? Telling me what’s up with you and Ronan!” she shouted back. 

“Doubtful!” Then his bedroom door closed. 

When she was finished she set up two plates on the fold out tables and knocked on Adam’s door. “Food is ready!” 

She heard the familiar footsteps and the door opened and Adam walked out with a smile on his face before sitting down. He took a sip of his apple juice and began to eat. Blue followed. 

“So are you going to tell me now?” 

Adam nodded. “Fair is fair.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t even know where to start.” 

“How about, how long has this been happening?” 

He cut up a piece of sausage and put in his mouth. “Not as long as I’m assuming you think. Just over three weeks. And it’s not even a relationship. At least I didn’t see it that way. I was tentative about starting something with Ronan again after, you know,” he gestured with his knife. Blue did know what he was talking about. 

“But I don’t know, I decided to try anyway. I guess it’s been a little more serious than the last go around. But like we haven’t gone on dates or something. We had an argument and we’ve just been cooling down over it for a few days.” 

“Do you want it to be serious?” Blue prodded. 

Adam scoffed. “Blue, I don’t know what I want right now.” 

Blue nodded her head. She was thinking about how Ronan was acting the past few days. He seemed depressed, more so than usual. 

“Do you even like Ronan?” 

Adam raised his eyebrows at her. “Do you even like Gansey?” When Blue didn’t respond out of shock he tipped his head. “Exactly.” 

Blue shook her head. “Adam, I’m serious.” 

“So am I.” 

She leaned back in the chair and let out a groan. “Ronan’s been more pissy than usual. Adam, me, Noah and Gansey caught him speaking spanish to a telenovela eating hot sauce. Did you hear what I just said? He is driving us up a wall.” 

Adam looked surprised but still kept it at a minimum. Adam didn’t do extreme facial expressions. He pursed his lips and took another sip of his drink. 

“I won’t bully you into telling me what the hell happened. But I think it’s bigger than you’re letting on. Come to the party.” 

“The whole point of coming to a party is to avoid dealing with messy things in life, Blue.” 

“I’ll get Ronan out of the loft.” 

Adam smirked. “I’d like to watch you try that.” He held out his pinky finger and Blue wrapped hers around and they swore on it.

 

 

* * *

 

When she came back into the loft she saw that there was no Ronan in sight. But Noah and Gansey were there sitting on the island in the kitchen. Gansey was hunched over photographs pointing excitedly at them and making hand gestures while explaining something Blue didn’t understand. Noah smiled and nodded along. 

“Do any of you like candy?” she said, announcing her presence. Both men looked up at the same time. 

Blue bought a ninety-nine cent orange back from the convenience store that she had been in earlier that morning and some candy as well. Noah looked interested. 

“Did go trick or treating?” he asked, then  with his eyebrows raised, “you went without us?” 

“No, I just bought it at the convenience store down the block from Adam’s apartment.” 

“You went to Adam’s apartment? Why?” Gansey wondered. 

Blue dumped the bag on the counter and grabbed a bar stool to sit down on. She gestured towards Ronan’s room down the far hall. 

“Because getting any information out of Ronan is like trying to break into Jewel House for the Crown Jewels. Adam is much more pliable for information if worked right.” 

Noah nodded his head like he was inclined to agree. Gansey leaned forward rubbing his thumb over his lip. Blue found that Gansey desperately wanted Adam to be his friend. Blue was sure Adam sensed it, but there hadn’t been much progress. 

“Oh. And did he tell you anything?” 

Blue shrugged her shoulders and took out a mini Snickers from her bag, unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. 

“He just confirmed with words that him and Ronan have been seeing each other again. Said they had a little argument, but wouldn’t say what it was. He tried to brush it off as nothing, when it was obviously something.” 

“Interesting,” Gansey said. 

The sound of a door slamming open got their attention. Ronan came out of his room, Chainsaw perched on his shoulder. He stalked into the kitchen. She noticed he’d shaved his stupid beard off and looked back to normal. 

“Maggot, I’m not going to your stupid party,” he declared. 

“What’s with the sudden change of heart?” she asked through chewy candy. 

“None of your fucking business.” 

She saw Gansey and Noah exchange glances with each other. “Whatever, Ronan.” 

He let out a huff through his nose, reminiscent of an angry bull and walked over, snatched his car keys and out the front door. Once he was gone she turned back around to Noah and Gansey. 

“What was with the look?” she asked. 

“What look?” Gansey responded. 

She gestured between the two of them. “You looked at each other weird. Why?” 

“We know that ‘none of your fucking business’ tone,” Noah said. 

Blue perched her elbow on the counter. “There’s different tones to Ronan’s ire and anger?” They all sounded the same to her. 

Gansey nodded his head. “Oh yes, when you’ve been friends with--”, he stared. 

“And lived with him--,” Noah added. 

Gansey paused to look at Noah before turning back to Blue. “For as long as we have, you know the different tones of Ronan.” 

“I told you on the first day, there’s a Ronan language you’ll eventually learn,” Noah said. 

“That specific tone, is always reserved when we push on the whole Michael Keaton thing. Blue, did you write to him as Michael Keaton?” When Gansey said it, it was like being in a lecture hall. 

“Blue,” Noah sighed. 

“It was your idea in the first place,” Blue accused at Noah. 

“Yeah, but then we agreed not to do it!” He defended. 

“Oh boy. Okay, this is some predicament we have ourselves in.” 

“How is this any different than the other times you’ve done it?” Blue asked. 

Gansey rubbed a hand over his face. “I haven’t sent one in quite some time. I think it was when you first moved in.” 

“That was over a year ago,” Blue stated. 

“Correct. The letters have gotten more sparse over the years. If Ronan finds out, the foundation will crumble.” 

“Well, shit,” Blue said.       

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked it! I've gotten my groove back for this story suddenly so I hope the next part will be up soon. (No promises or guarantees though). 
> 
> comments and kudos are always welcome by me.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! You can find me on tumblr, at jediannabeth. Kudos and comments are very much appreciated! Thanks everyone!


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